JP2002192819A - Apparatus for detecting whether recording is possible or not - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To judge whether or not a cassette holder holds a ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon satisfying recording conditions is stored. SOLUTION: There are set an information management means 38 for detecting a type of the ink ribbon held to a recorder, an information setting means 37 for setting recording conditions, and a warning means 32 connected to each of the information management means 38 and the information setting means 37 for warning when the ink ribbon 17 satisfying the recording conditions is not held to the recorder 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus connected to a recording apparatus, and more particularly to a recording propriety detecting apparatus for detecting the propriety of recording based on the type of ink ribbon held in the recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in order to perform color recording in a thermal transfer type recording apparatus using an ink ribbon, it is necessary to use at least three color ink ribbons of cyan, magenta and yellow. In this case, only one ribbon cassette containing three types of inks alternately arranged on one ink ribbon is used, or a plurality of ink cartridges containing individual ink ribbons for each color are used. They used ribbon cassettes.

[0003] When color printing is performed using a plurality of ribbon cassettes, a plurality of ribbon cassettes are held in a cassette holder, and a cassette such as a carriage on which a ribbon cassette to be used for recording is mounted in a printing apparatus. Transfer of the ribbon cassette between the mounting portion and the cassette holder is performed, and the ribbon cassette to be used for recording is sequentially mounted on the cassette mounting portion to perform recording.

Heretofore, conventionally, the user has to visually check the cassette holder of the recording apparatus to check which kind of ink ribbon is stored in the cassette holder. Was.

[0005]

However, as described above, it is troublesome for the user to visually check the cassette holder of the recording apparatus to determine what kind of ink ribbon is stored in the ribbon cassette. In some cases, it cannot be immediately determined whether or not a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon suitable for recording is held in the cassette holder.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and provides a recording permission / inhibition detecting device capable of determining whether or not a ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon satisfying recording conditions is held in a cassette holder. It is an object.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon satisfying recording conditions is held in a cassette holder.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording propriety detecting device capable of notifying a user of a type of an ink ribbon of a ribbon cassette held in a cassette holder.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a recording possibility detection apparatus according to the present invention is characterized by an information management means for detecting the type of ink ribbon held in the recording apparatus, and a recording condition. Information setting means for setting, and a warning means connected to the information management means and the information setting means, respectively, and issuing a warning when an ink ribbon satisfying the recording condition is not held in the recording apparatus. is there. By adopting such a configuration, a warning is issued by the warning unit when the ink ribbon satisfying the recording condition is not mounted on the recording apparatus. Therefore, the user is provided with the ink ribbon satisfying the recording condition. The ribbon cassette can be refilled into the recording device.

Another feature of the recording propriety detecting device according to the present invention resides in that the information management means includes a notifying means for notifying the type of the ink ribbon stored in the recording device. By adopting such a configuration, the user can know in advance whether or not there is an ink ribbon satisfying the recording conditions.

[0010]

2 to 4 show the mechanical structure of a thermal transfer printer as a recording apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the thermal transfer printer 1 of this embodiment has a flat platen 2 disposed at a desired position on a frame (not shown) so that its recording surface is substantially vertical. A guide shaft 3 is disposed below and in front of the platen 2 in parallel with the platen 2.
A carriage 4 which is divided into upper and lower parts is attached to an appropriate position of the guide shaft 3, and the lower one is a lower carriage 4 a attached to the guide shaft 3, and the lower one is shown above. The other is an upper carriage 4b to which a ribbon cassette 5, which will be described later, is attached and which can be vertically moved toward and away from the lower carriage 4a. The carriage 4 drives an appropriate drive belt 6 wound around a pair of pulleys (not shown) by appropriate drive means (not shown) such as a stepping motor, and causes the guide shaft 3 to rotate. It is driven so as to be able to reciprocate along.

The carriage 4 is provided with a thermal head 7 which is opposed to the platen 2 and can be freely moved toward and away from the platen 2 and records on a recording medium (paper, not shown) on the platen 2 in a pressed state. Has been established. The thermal head 7 has a plurality of heating elements (not shown) arranged and arranged to selectively generate heat based on desired recording information input by an appropriate input device (not shown) such as a keyboard. It has.

The carriage 4 will be described in more detail. The carriage 4 has a plate-like upper carriage 4b which is substantially parallel to the lower carriage 4a attached to the guide shaft 3, and which is driven by a parallel crank mechanism 8 to move the lower carriage 4a. And is attached so as to be able to move in parallel so as to come in contact with and separate from. As shown in FIG. 4, the parallel crank mechanism 8 has a pair of links 9a and 9b provided at left and right ends of the carriage 4 and crossing each other in an X-shape. Is the pin 10a
And the ends of the links 9a, 9b are
The lower carriage 4a and the upper carriage 4b are slidably locked by long holes (not shown) formed at upper ends of left and right sides of the upper carriage 4b by b, 10c, 10d, and 10e, respectively.

A rotary crank mechanism 11 is provided on the lower carriage 4a. The rotary crank mechanism 11 operates to move the upper carriage 4b in parallel. This rotary crank mechanism 11
A rotating plate 12 serving as a rotating member rotatably supported by the lower carriage 4a, and a connecting link 14 serving as a connecting member pivotally connected to the eccentric position of the rotating plate 12 by a pin 13a. The front end 14 is pivotally connected to the upper carriage 4b by a pin 13b.
Then, the rotating plate 12 is rotatably driven by a suitable driving means (not shown) such as a motor.

Returning to FIG. 2, a plate-like arm is formed on each of the left and right sides of the upper carriage 4b with an engaging portion 15a having a tip gently curved inward and a projection formed at the upper and lower ends. Reference numerals 15 stand upright at intervals substantially equal to the width of the ribbon cassette 5. A pair of rotatable bobbins 16 are disposed at a central portion of the upper carriage 4b so as to protrude upward at a predetermined interval from each other.
The bobbin 16 allows the ink ribbon 17 to travel in a predetermined direction. One of the pair of bobbins 16 is a take-up bobbin 16 a for winding the ink ribbon 17, and the other is a delivery bobbin 16 for sending the ink ribbon 17.
b. On the edge of the carriage 4 farther from the platen 2, an optical sensor 18 a as information management means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon stored in the ribbon cassette 5 is provided. This optical sensor 18a
In this embodiment, a reflection type is used.

The optical sensor 18a is connected to the thermal transfer printer 1
Is connected to a control unit 25 which controls the recording operation and the like of the thermal transfer printer 1 disposed at a desired position.
The control unit 25 is formed from a memory, a CPU, and the like (not shown). Based on at least an output signal from the optical sensor 18a accompanying the movement of the carriage 4, the presence or absence of the ribbon cassette 5 and the ink stored in the ribbon cassette 5 are determined. The type of the ribbon 17, the moving distance of the carriage 4 with respect to the home position, the open / closed state of a canopy 19 described later, the distance between a pair of adjacent or separated ribbon cassettes 5, and the like can be determined or detected.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, above the carriage 4, there is provided a substantially plate which is supported by a frame (not shown) so as to be openable and closable as shown by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. A canopy 19 is provided.
The canopy 19 functions as a paper presser on the exit side of a paper feed mechanism (not shown) in the closed state.
Is almost the same length as the moving area.

A plurality of cassette holders (not shown) for holding the ribbon cassette 5 are provided at predetermined positions on the lower surface of the canopy 19 facing the carriage 4 in parallel. In the above, four color ink ribbons 17a for performing color recording,
The ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, 5c, and 5d in which 17b, 17c, and 17d are individually stored are arranged in a line in the moving direction of the carriage 4. Each of the ribbon cassettes 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d has a canopy 19 and an upper carriage 4b as shown by a double-headed arrow B in FIG.
Delivery is selectively performed between and.

Each of the ribbon cassettes 5a, 5 of the present embodiment
Regardless of the type of the ink ribbon 17, b, 5c, and 5d are all formed in the same shape and the same size. A pair of supported reels 21, a pair of rotatably supported ribbon feed rollers, and a plurality of guide rollers facing a rotatably supported ribbon path are provided. The ink ribbon 17 is wound between a pair of reels, and an intermediate portion of the ribbon path of the ink ribbon 17 is led out. When the pair of reels is mounted on the upper carriage 4b, one of the reels is a take-up reel that winds the ink ribbon 17 of the portion used for recording, and the other is a feed reel that sends the ink ribbon. You. On the inner peripheral surface of each reel, a plurality of key grooves are formed in a spline shape at intervals in the circumferential direction. The inner peripheral surface of one reel is engaged with the winding bobbin 16a. The reel 21 has a take-up hole 21a, and the inner peripheral surface of the other reel is a feed hole 21b with which the feed bobbin 16b is engaged. On the surface of the ribbon cassette 5 which is mounted on the carriage 4 and faces the platen 2, a concave portion 22 facing the thermal head 7 is formed. In the concave portion 22, an intermediate portion of the ink ribbon 17 is led out. ing.

An identification mark 23 for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 is provided on a rear surface of the ribbon cassette 5 extending parallel to the surface on which the concave portion 22 is formed. Are located. The identification mark 23 of the present embodiment is a reflective seal 2 having a different number of striped non-reflective portions 24 a depending on the type of the ink ribbon 17.
4.

Then, the identification mark 23 is detected by the optical sensor 18a provided on the carriage 4, and a detection signal is output to the control unit 25 of the printer. The type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in the ribbon cassette 5 is determined by counting the number.

That is, in the ribbon cassette 5a shown at the left end in FIG. 2, a reflection seal 24A having three non-reflection portions 24a is arranged as the identification mark 23. Non-reflective part 24 of
a, a reflective seal 24B having two a non-reflective portions 24a is disposed as an identification mark 23 on the ribbon cassette 5c, and a reflective seal 24C having two non-reflective portions 24a is disposed on the ribbon cassette 5d. A reflection seal 24 </ b> D having one non-reflection portion 24 a is arranged as the identification mark 23. And the ribbon cassette 5
The left end of the rear surface is a reference position BP for detecting the identification mark 23, and the distance L to the right end surface of the non-reflection portion 24a located at the right end in the drawing of the identification mark 23 is the same for all the identification marks 23. In addition, a desired non-reflective portion 24a for identifying the type of the ink ribbon 17 is formed within the distance L. The carriage 4 can be stopped when the optical sensor 18a detects the identification mark 23 to be used. When the carriage 4 is stopped, the ribbon cassette 5 provided in the cassette holder is moved to the upper carriage 4b. To be handed over.

The identification mark 23 may be printed on the ribbon cassette 5, and is not particularly limited to the configuration of the present embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a recording permission / inhibition detecting device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the recording permission / inhibition detecting device 30
An information processing device 31 and the thermal transfer printer 1 and a screen display device 32 as peripheral devices of the information processing device 31
And

The central control unit 33 of the information processing unit 31
(Hereinafter referred to as CPU (Central Processing Unit))
In addition to an OS (Operating System) and memories such as a RAM and a ROM, in the present embodiment, the printer driver 3
4 are provided.

The printer drive 34 includes a CPU 33
A print data correction module 35 that performs data correction for obtaining a desired print result at the time of printer output with respect to print data of the application 33A managed by the printer 33, and an IO module 36 that transfers various data to and from the thermal transfer printer 1. In the printer drive 34, an information setting module 37 for setting recording conditions, color adjustment, quality adjustment, paper size setting, etc.
And each of these modules 35, 36, 37
Are managed by the information management module 38. In the present embodiment, the printer drive 34
In the present embodiment, the recording data correction module 35 includes a rasterizer 39, a color correction module 40, and a halftone module 41.

The control unit 25 of the thermal transfer printer 1 is configured to control the driving of the carriage 4, the control of heat generation of the thermal head 7, the transport of the ink ribbon 17, the transport of the recording paper, and the like, as described above. . Therefore, the control unit 25 can also detect that an error has occurred in the thermal transfer printer 1. Examples of the error include "paper out" when there is no recording paper, "paper jam" when the recording paper is jammed in the transport path, and "ribbon end" when the ink ribbon required for recording has ended. "Ribbon detection not possible" when the ink ribbon used for performing the desired recording is not set in the thermal transfer printer 1, "cover open" when the cover formed on the frame of the thermal transfer printer 1 is open, etc. There is.

Then, C in the information processing device 31
The IO module 36 of the PU 33 and the control device 15 on the recording device 2 side are connected by a bidirectional interface (not shown), and the CPU 33 has the screen display as a peripheral device of the information processing device 31. Device 3
2 are connected. The screen display device 32 also serves as a notification unit that notifies the type of the ink ribbon.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described.

First, an example of the operation of detecting the ribbon cassette 5 by the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment will be described.

The operation of detecting the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 by the thermal transfer printer 1 of the present embodiment is performed by driving the thermal transfer printer 1 and instructing the carriage 4 located at the home position by a command from the control unit 25.
By traveling to the right in FIG.
The detection is performed by the optical sensor 18a provided on the carriage 4 detecting the identification mark 23 of the ribbon cassette 5. Then, the optical sensor 18a sends a unique detection signal of each identification mark 23 based on the arrangement and pitch of the non-reflective portions 24a to the control unit 25, and the control unit 25 stores the identification signal 23 from the identification mark 23 into the ribbon cassette 5. The type of the ink ribbon 17 is detected.

As described above, the signal about the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 detected by the control unit 25 of the thermal transfer printer 1 is:
The information is input to the information management module 38 via the IO module 36 of the recording availability detection device 30. Then, in the information management module 38, the types of the ink ribbons 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 are arranged. The signal about the type of the ink ribbon 17 is input to the display control unit 43 via the information setting module 37, and is displayed on the screen display device 32 connected to the display control unit 43.

FIG. 5 shows a display of the ink ribbon 17 actually stored in the ribbon cassette 5 on the screen display device 32. The display portion 42 of the screen display device 32 has a left display portion 42L and a right display portion 42L. The display is divided into a display section 42R and an upper display section 42U.

The left display section 42L displays the ink ribbon 17 of the ribbon cassette 5 currently held in the cassette holder. That is, as an example, three ribbon cassettes 5 are held in four holders in each stage of a cassette holder having a two-tiered structure, and the ink ribbons 17 stored in the respective ribbon cassettes 5 are held. Is displayed.

The type of the ink ribbon 17 that is insufficient to satisfy the recording conditions is displayed on the right display section 42R. The right display section 42R will be described later.

In the state where the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 held in the cassette holder is detected as described above, when the recording condition is input by the information setting module 37, the information management module It is determined whether or not the ribbon cassette 5 containing the ink ribbon 17 that satisfies the input recording condition is held in the cassette holder.

If the ribbon cassette 5 containing the ink ribbon 17 satisfying the recording conditions is held in the cassette holder, the recording is started based on the recording start command. On the other hand, if the ribbon cassette 5 containing the ink ribbon 17 that satisfies the recording conditions is not held in the cassette holder, the upper left display section 42U of the display section 42 of the screen display device 32 displays "Attach to current printer". The following ribbon cassette cannot be used for recording. Please attach the following required ribbon cassette. ", And display the ribbon cassette containing the required ink ribbon in the right display section 42R. This allows the user to replenish the necessary ribbon cassette.

As described above, according to the recording propriety detecting device of the present embodiment, the type of the ink ribbon 17 stored in each ribbon cassette 5 held in the cassette holder is
It is possible to confirm by simply looking at the display section 42 of the screen display device 32 before recording without actually looking at the cassette holder.

When the ribbon cassette 5 accommodating the ink ribbon 17 satisfying the recording conditions at the time of recording is not held in the cassette holder, the user only needs to look at the display section 42 of the screen display device 32 to determine what kind of information is displayed. It is possible to know whether the ribbon cassette 5 containing the different types of ink ribbons 17 should be refilled.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made as necessary.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not the ribbon cassette containing the ink ribbon satisfying the recording conditions is held in the cassette holder.

That is, the information management means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon held in the printing apparatus, the information setting means for setting the printing conditions, and the information management means and the information setting means are connected to the printing apparatus, respectively. A warning means for issuing a warning when the ink ribbon satisfying the condition is not held in the recording apparatus; therefore, a warning is issued by the warning means when the ink ribbon satisfying the recording condition is not mounted on the recording apparatus. Is issued, the user can replenish the recording apparatus with a ribbon cassette provided with an ink ribbon satisfying the recording conditions.

Further, if the information management means is provided with a notifying means for notifying the type of ink ribbon stored in the recording apparatus, the user can know in advance whether or not there is an ink ribbon satisfying the recording conditions. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a recording possibility detection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part of the thermal transfer printer connected to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the carriage of FIG. 2;

5 is a front view showing an example of a display unit of the screen display device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer printer 4 Carriage 4a Lower carriage 4b Upper carriage 5 Ribbon cassette 7 Thermal head 17, 17a, 17b, 17c, 17d Ink ribbon 18 Sensor 18a Optical sensor 19 Canopy 23 Identification mark 24, 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D Reflective seal 24a Non-reflection unit 25 Control unit 30 Recordability detection device 31 Information processing device 32 Screen display device 33 Central control device (CPU) 34 Printer driver 35 Recording data correction module 36 IO module 37 Information setting module 38 Information management module 39 Rasterizer 40 Color correction Module 41 Halftone module 42 Display section 42L Left display section 42R Right display section 42U Upper display section 43 Display control section

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Tatsuhiko Asada 1-7 Yukitani Otsuka-cho, Ota-ku, Tokyo Alps Electric Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2C068 AA01 AA06 EE60 EE62 EE63 KK36

Claims (2)

[Claims] An information management unit configured to detect a type of an ink ribbon held in a recording apparatus; an information setting unit configured to set a recording condition; And a warning unit for issuing a warning when an ink ribbon satisfying a condition is not held in the recording device. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said information management means includes a notifying means for notifying a type of the ink ribbon held in said recording apparatus.