JP2002086856A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer having a function for making a decision whether a regular sheet is set or not. SOLUTION: The printer using sheets being consumed as print operation progresses comprises means for making a decision whether a regular sheet previously applied with magnetic ink is used for printing or not, and means for delivering an alarm and/or performing print operation while limiting the function when a regular sheet is not used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that operates on the premise that paper is used as a consumable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Laser printers, ink jet printers, thermal transfer printers and the like are used as print output devices for computers. In such a printing device,
Consumable paper is required. The printing device is provided in a form of temporary payment (sold out), lent (rental, lease), and the like, and paper is provided by individual sales, payment of a paper fee according to the number of prints, and the like.

[0003] By the way, when providing a printing apparatus, if the apparatus is provided at a low cost and a profit is obtained by sales of a predetermined paper fee, a user can introduce the printing apparatus at a low cost.
It is convenient to pay for the used paper. In this case, unless predetermined paper is used in the printing apparatus, the provider of the printing apparatus cannot recover profits.

[0004] In general, a printing device is specified (for example,
By using (genuine) paper, it is possible to obtain a print output of the best quality according to the product design of the printing apparatus, and to suppress the occurrence of trouble.

[0005]

However, the printing apparatus does not have a function of determining whether a specific sheet is being used, and there is a possibility that different providers use different sheets. In this case, it is difficult to provide an inexpensive printing apparatus on the premise of using predetermined paper, secure print quality, and suppress troubles.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus having a function of determining whether a sheet set in the printing apparatus is a predetermined sheet.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of performing an operation corresponding to a case where a sheet different from a predetermined sheet is used.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a sheet feeding mechanism for sending a sheet to which identification information has been previously attached by magnetic ink to a printing mechanism;
There is provided reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet, and determination means for determining the content of the read identification information. The determination means prohibits printing when the identification information does not exist.

With this configuration, it is possible to encourage the use of a predetermined sheet suitable for the printing apparatus.

Further, the printing apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper feed mechanism for sending out a sheet to which identification information including a type is attached in advance by magnetic ink to a printing mechanism, reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet, Determining means for determining the content of the read identification information, wherein the determination means causes the printing mechanism to execute a low-quality print mode when the identification information does not exist.

[0011] With this configuration, it is possible to perform printing suitable for a predetermined sheet and a sheet other than the predetermined sheet.

Further, the printing apparatus of the present invention comprises: a sheet feeding mechanism for sending a sheet to which identification information including a type is attached in advance by magnetic ink to a printing mechanism; reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet; Determining means for determining the content of the read identification information, wherein the determination means enables printing when the identification information is present, and executes a print mode of image quality corresponding to the type to the printing mechanism. Let it.

With this configuration, it is possible to provide print quality corresponding to the specification of a predetermined sheet.

Further, the printing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a display means for visually displaying or a notifying means for notifying by voice, wherein the discriminating means indicates that the sheet cannot be used when the identification information does not exist. Notify the user by means or notification means.

Further, the discriminating means prohibits printing of information supplied from the outside when the identification information does not exist, and instructs the printing mechanism that the paper is unusable.

With this configuration, it is possible to further promote the use of a predetermined sheet suitable for the printing apparatus.

Incidentally, the identification information may be given by fluorescent ink instead of the magnetic ink.

Preferably, the identification information is attached to a non-printing surface of the paper.

Preferably, the type of the predetermined sheet depends on a difference in surface treatment.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a control system of a printing apparatus which receives an information signal to be printed out from an external computer and prints on a sheet or the like. Printing devices are roughly divided into
The paper feed mechanism 10, the printing mechanism 20, and the control unit 40 are roughly classified. The paper feeding mechanism sends out the printing paper one by one from a paper tray (not shown) that stores the paper in response to the command signal, and sends out the printed paper to an output tray (not shown) via the printing mechanism 20. The printing mechanism 20 includes a printing mechanism of an ink jet type, an electrophotographic type, a thermal transfer type, or the like, and forms an image on paper using toner or ink. In the ink jet type, fine ink particles are formed by vibration of a piezoelectric element, and scattering of the ink particles is controlled by image information to form an image on a sheet. In the electrophotographic method, an electrostatic latent image is formed by scanning a charged photoreceptor with a laser beam modulated by image information, toner is adhered and developed by electrostatic force of the latent image portion, and the toner image is formed on paper. Then, an image is formed on a sheet by transferring the image onto the sheet and fixing the sheet. In the thermal transfer type, a toner film is interposed between a heating element array and a sheet, and while the heating element array is relatively moved, each heating element of the heating element array is controlled by image information to thereby remove toner from the toner film. The image is transferred to a sheet and an image is formed on the sheet.

Paper feed mechanism 10 and / or printing mechanism 20
Is provided with a parameter detector 30 for detecting whether the sheet is a predetermined sheet to which identification information is added in advance.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which a magnetic sensor for detecting magnetic ink is used as an example of the parameter detector 30. The paper 61 provided exclusively for the printing press is provided with identification information 62 and 63 in advance at a predetermined portion in the paper feeding direction by transparent magnetic ink. The identification information 62 and 63 can be selectively used depending on whether the paper 61 is fed vertically or horizontally, and only one of them may be used. The identification information 62 and 63 can be obtained by coding the information by using a pattern of the presence or absence of the magnetic ink, or by recording a modulation signal in a portion where the magnetic ink is present and holding the code information. The magnetic sensor reads this pattern and sends it to the output interface 45.

The control section 40 includes a CPU 41 for executing a control program, a RAM (Direct Memory Access) RAM 42 for storing data, and an input interface 4 for transmitting and receiving print data to and from an external computer.
3, a ROM 44 storing a control program and a database of consumables codes, etc .; an output interface 45 for transmitting and receiving signals between the control unit 40 and the sheet feeding mechanism 10, the printing mechanism 20, the parameter detector 30, and the like. . The output interface 45 monitors the output of the parameter detector 30, and when a significant output signal is supplied, converts the A / D into a data, and writes it into a predetermined area (parameter writing area) of the RAM 42 by a DMA operation. . Further, a parameter write flag is set (flag on) in the flag area of the RAM 42.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining a part related to the present invention in the control program executed by the CPU 41. The CPU 41 executes the main program to detect the setting of the above-described parameter writing flag, or performs a paper discrimination process (S10) by an interrupt process generated by the setting of the parameter writing flag. First, the signal pattern written in the parameter writing area of the RAM 42 is read (S12),
(S1), a designated paper code (signal pattern) representing one or a plurality of designated (or contract) papers, a code table representing the paper type, etc., recorded in the database (S1).
4). If the code matches one of the specified paper and the paper type code, a determination flag corresponding to the specified paper is set in the flag area of the RAM 42. If there is no code of the designated sheet corresponding to the read signal pattern, the CPU 41 does not set the sheet determination flag (S16). Then, the program returns to the main program (or the original program).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the printing process according to the present invention. When a print command is sent from an external computer device (not shown) to the input interface 43, the input interface 43 sets a print command flag in the flag area of the RAM 42. When the CPU 41 determines the supply of the print command by monitoring the flag area, or by setting the flag or interrupt processing caused by the input interface 43, the print processing mode (S2).
Perform 0).

The CPU 41 reads from the flag area of the RAM 42 a set sheet discrimination flag or the presence / absence of the flag setting (S22), and judges whether or not a predetermined sheet pre-recorded in the ROM 44 has been set (S22).
24). If it is set (S24; Ye
s), and print processing (S26) is performed.

In the printing process, the input interface 43 writes print information supplied from the external computer into the buffer area of the RAM 42 by DMA operation,
U41 develops black and white or color bitmap data (image data) in page units, and supplies this to the printing mechanism 20 while synchronizing with sheet feeding. At this time, the scanning line density, the pixel density, the dot density for displaying one pixel (in the case of ink jet) of the image data supplied to the printing mechanism 20 are related to the printing quality (S26). After performing the printing process of the last page, the process returns to the main program or the original state.

If not set (S24; No)
, An error process is performed (S28). The error processing to be performed when the designated paper is not used is performed by, for example, displaying characters on the display 50 of the printing press, lighting / flashing LED, and displaying by voice. In addition, a warning signal is sent from the CPU 41 to the external computer via the input interface 43, and a warning (or caution) is displayed on a screen display or an audio device of the computer device or a voice is used to alert the user that the designated paper is not used (S28). . Further, an error message may be printed on paper and output. After performing error processing, return to the main program or the original state.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the printing process of the image quality corresponding to the type of paper. In the figure,
Parts corresponding to those in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description of such parts is omitted.

In this example, the printing mode is changed depending on whether or not the predetermined paper is used and the type of the predetermined paper. When the predetermined paper is used (S24; Yes), high-quality printing corresponding to the paper type (two types are assumed in this drawing),
For example, print information is printed with a high pixel density (high resolution).
Is decoded and printing is performed. If the predetermined paper is not used (S24; No), the low-quality printing (third) is performed through a warning display process (see S28) in which a visual display or an audio warning is performed on the display (see S28). For example, the print information is decoded at a low pixel density (low resolution) of the print information to form image data and print (S285).

If the predetermined paper is used, its type (for example, the difference in the surface treatment between the paper for photo printing and the paper for general printing) is determined from the specific part of the identification information (S25).
Then, a print mode of image quality corresponding to the type of paper is set, and high-quality photo printing or general printing, which is a printing mode of the first printing process (S283) or the second printing process (S284), is performed.

In this example, even if the dedicated paper is insufficient, the image quality is reduced, but printing (S285) can be temporarily continued using another paper.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the operation mode of the printing apparatus can be changed depending on whether or not a specific sheet is used, for example, the sheet ( For example, the use of genuine products) can be encouraged. In addition, it is possible to provide a printing apparatus by a contract on the assumption that predetermined paper is used.

In the embodiment, when the predetermined paper is not used, processing such as not performing printing or deteriorating the print quality is performed. ) May be provided and normal print quality may be provided.

Further, in the embodiment, the example in which the identification information of the paper is given by magnetic ink is shown. However, the identification information may be given by fluorescent ink or the like. good.

[0037]

As described above, in the printing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to change the operation mode of the printing apparatus depending on whether or not the predetermined paper is used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a control system of a printing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a parameter detector.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of determining a sheet based on an output of a parameter detector.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a printing operation corresponding to use of a predetermined sheet.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a printing operation corresponding to use of a predetermined sheet.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Paper feed mechanism 20 Printing mechanism 30 Parameter detector 40 Control part of printing press 50 Display

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding mechanism for sending a sheet, to which identification information has been previously attached with magnetic ink, to a printing mechanism, reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet, and discriminating the content of the read identification information. Means for determining
The printing apparatus, further comprising: a printing unit that prohibits printing when the identification information does not exist. 2. A sheet feeding mechanism for sending a sheet on which identification information including a type is attached in advance by magnetic ink to a printing mechanism; reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet; Determining means for determining the content;
A printing apparatus, wherein the determining unit causes the printing mechanism to execute a low-quality print mode when the identification information does not exist. 3. A sheet feeding mechanism for sending a sheet on which identification information including a type is attached in advance by magnetic ink to a printing mechanism; reading means for reading the identification information attached to the sheet; Determining means for determining the content;
A printing apparatus, wherein the determination unit enables printing when the identification information is present, and causes the printing mechanism to execute a print mode of image quality corresponding to the type. 4. A display device for visually displaying or a notifying device for notifying by voice, wherein the discriminating device indicates that the sheet cannot be used when the identification information does not exist by the display device or the notifying device. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a user is notified. 5. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the determining unit prohibits printing of information supplied from the outside when the identification information does not exist, and instructs the printing mechanism to print a sheet that cannot be used. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is provided by a fluorescent ink instead of the magnetic ink. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is attached to a non-printing surface of the sheet. 8. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the type is a difference in surface treatment of a sheet.