JP2002292957A - Thermal transfer printer and method of printing color image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce running cost by using an ink ribbon without any waste. SOLUTION: A ribbon cassette 30 has the ink ribbon 38 wherein different plural colors of inks are sequentially applied in a longitudinal direction and a ribbon marker 38a is provided at a boundary section of the applied regions by each one cycle. After the ribbon cassette 30 is loaded to a cassette accommodating section 12 on a frame 10, an operation for removing a slack of the ink ribbon 38 is started and at the same time, detecting of the ribbon marker 38a is executed by means of a detecting section 20 attached to a frame 10. When the detecting section 20 detects the ribbon marker 38a during the operation of removing the slack of the ink ribbon 38, the ink on the ink ribbon 38 is immediately printed on a recording paper 100.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for performing color printing using ink ribbons coated with inks of different colors and a color image printing method using the printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a line type thermal transfer printer is used as a print recording device for rapidly printing a line or a page on a recording sheet.
A long thermal head, in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged and arranged along the width direction of the recording paper, is pressed against the platen roller 14 via the recording paper and the ink ribbon for printing.

[0003] The ribbon cassette mounted on the thermal transfer printer has a take-up core and a supply core rotatably arranged in a cassette case separated from each other, and an ink ribbon is wound around both cores. In the ink ribbon, a plurality of different colors of ink are sequentially and repeatedly arranged in the longitudinal direction, and a ribbon marker is arranged at a boundary portion of each ink for each cycle. The thermal transfer printer is provided with a photosensor for reading a ribbon marker of the ink ribbon, and a winding bobbin and a supply bobbin that can rotate by engaging both cores.

When the ribbon cassette is mounted on the thermal transfer printer, a thermal head is positioned between both cores of the ribbon cassette, and a winding step is performed by a winding bobbin connecting the winding core to a drive motor (not shown). The ink ribbon is wound by a number of times to perform the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon. Next, the winding of the ink ribbon is performed until the photo sensor detects the ribbon marker, and thereafter, the winding operation is stopped. A color image is printed by pressing a thermal head, which is driven based on print information, on a platen with an ink ribbon of a desired color overlaid on a recording sheet.

[0005]

By the way, when a ribbon cassette is mounted on a thermal transfer printer, the ink ribbon is unconditionally wound in a predetermined number of steps in order to remove slack in the ink ribbon, and the preparation before printing to be performed thereafter In the stage, so-called ribbon sensing, the ink ribbon was further wound up until the next ribbon marker was detected by the photo sensor, so that the ribbon marker passed during the slack operation and a maximum of one cycle of the ink ribbon had not been completed. The ink ribbon was wasted and wasted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer and a color image printing method using the same, which can reduce the running cost by using the ink ribbon without waste.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal transfer printer in which inks of a plurality of different colors are sequentially and repeatedly applied in a longitudinal direction. A thermal transfer printer that mounts a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon having a ribbon marker at a boundary portion for each cycle and prints ink of the ink ribbon on recording paper, and a detection unit that detects the presence or absence of the ribbon marker; An ink ribbon take-up mechanism configured to wind a predetermined amount of the ink ribbon based on a marker detection output from the detection unit; and a print control unit configured to control a printing operation on recording paper. Performs the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon when the ribbon cassette is mounted, and detects the ribbon marker at the time of the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon. , The print control unit stops the slack eliminating operation of the ink ribbon is formed so as to start the printing operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color image printing method using a thermal transfer printer.
After the ribbon cassette having the ink ribbon with the ribbon marker arranged at the boundary of each cycle is mounted on the printer main body, the operation of removing the slack of the ink ribbon is started, and at the same time, the detection of the ribbon marker is performed by the detection unit attached to the printer main body. performed, when the detecting section detects ribbon marker during slack eliminating operation of the ink ribbon is to start printing the color image on the recording paper stops slack removal operation of the ink ribbon.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the thermal transfer printer includes a box (printer body) 10 formed of a metal plate and formed in a box shape. The frame 10 is provided with a cassette storage section 12 having a hollow inside in order to store a ribbon cassette 30 described later.

[0010] be described with reference to the ribbon cassette 30 detachably attached to the cassette housing part 12 of the frame 10 in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, the ribbon cassette 30 has a main body 30a formed in a substantially elliptical shape, and a ribbon guide 30b extending from the main body 30a to one side (the right side in the figure). It is formed. In the main body 30a, a take-up core 32 and a supply core 33 are provided.
And an ink ribbon 38 having both ends wound around these cores 32 and 33. Then, in the winding core 32 and supply core 33 constitute a ribbon take-up mechanism 34 for normal winding operation and the slack eliminating operation of the ink ribbon 38. The supply core 33
Is rotatably supported in the main body 30a.

The ribbon guide portion 30b has a top plate 30e and a bottom plate 30f opposed to the top plate 30e at a predetermined interval.
Are provided. Then, the top plate 30e and the bottom plate 30f
Ribbon running grooves 30 between, having a predetermined gap size between the
g is formed, and the ink ribbon 38 can run in the ribbon running groove 30g. A ribbon folding portion 30d having a rotatable roller 30c is formed at the leading end of the ribbon guide portion 30b.

[0012] The ink ribbon 38, as shown in FIG. 4,
A base made of a resin film made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) or the like, for example, Y (yellow),
M (magenta), C (cyan), sequentially repeated applying the color inks of K (black) in the longitudinal direction, it is placed at the ribbon marker 38a at the boundary each cycle of the coated area. The ink on the ink ribbon 38 is not limited to the order of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black).
Also, Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan)
Of can be printed in full color if there is at least three color inks, other free color ink combination may be a sequence.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, a frame 10 having a cassette storage portion 12 in the center includes a front plate portion 10a formed on the front side and a rear plate portion 10a formed on the rear side.
b, a left side plate portion 10c formed on the left side in the figure, a right side plate portion 10d formed on the right side, and a cassette storage portion 1.
2 is provided with a top plate part 10e that covers the upper part of the cassette storage part 2, and a bottom plate part 10f that covers the lower part of the cassette storage part 12.

Further, an opening 10g for punching the ribbon cassette 30 into and out of the cassette accommodating section 12 is punched and formed in the front plate 10a of the frame 10. A winding bobbin 13 projecting from the cassette housing 12 is provided on a rear plate
There is arranged, the winding core 32 of the ribbon cassette 30 to the take-up bobbin 13 is adapted to engage in position. The winding bobbin 13 is driven by a ribbon winding motor (not shown).

The head mount 19 is made of a material having good heat dissipation such as aluminum die-cast, and is cantilevered by the rear plate portion 10b, and is disposed in the cassette accommodating portion 12. The head mount 19 is provided with a thermal head 18 in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in a longitudinal direction.

[0016] During the front plate portion 10a and the rear side plate portion 10b of the frame 10, the rotatable shaft member 16 in which the round bar is provided to be pivotally supported. The shaft member 16 is supported by a pair of elliptical support members 15 made of a metal plate, and is disposed along the inside of each of the side plates 10a and 10b. A platen roller 14 having a rotation axis 14a as a central axis is rotatably supported by the pair of support members 15, and the platen roller 14 is on a side opposite to a side on which the shaft member 16 is supported. 16 are arranged in parallel.

[0017] The supporting member 15 is designed so as to rotate urged by the urging force of the spring (not shown) in a counterclockwise direction, as a part of the shaft member 16 and the support member 15 is always in contact Has become. When the shaft member 16 rotates counterclockwise, the platen roller 14 rotates in the direction of arrow C. When the shaft member 16 rotates clockwise, the platen roller 14 rotates in the direction of arrow D. ing.

Next, a wall member 22 made of a resin material is provided on the left side plate portion 10c of the frame 10, and a paper insertion opening 22a communicating with the internal cassette housing portion 12 is opened in the wall member 22. It is formed. Frame 10
A paper feed mechanism 24 is provided on the right side of the right plate 10d. The paper feed mechanism 24 includes a paper feed roller 25 made of a metal rod or the like, and a pressure roller 26 coated with rubber and pressed against the paper feed roller 25. The paper feed roller 25 and the pressure roller 26 are rotatably supported by the front plate 10a and the rear plate 10b.

The pressing roller 26 and the top plate 1 of the frame 10
0e, a substantially V-shaped leaf spring 27 is disposed.
It is in a pressed state.

The photo sensor (detection unit) 20 reads a ribbon marker 38a of the ink ribbon 38,
In the vicinity of the thermal head 18, it is provided toward the inside of the cassette accommodating portion 12 of the frame 10. When the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 reads the ribbon marker 38a, a printing operation can be started using ink of a desired color of the ink ribbon 38. And, in the cassette storage section 12 of the frame 10,
A detection switch (not shown) for detecting whether or not the ribbon cassette 30 is mounted is provided.

The printing mechanism 40 is composed of the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 14. The print control unit 45 controls the print mechanism unit 40, the paper feed mechanism unit 24, and the ribbon take-up mechanism unit 34. During the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon 38, the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 by detecting the presence of the ribbon marker 38a, the detection output is inputted, immediately on the recording paper 100
Print control for printing a color image on the printer. Further, the print control unit 45 includes the ink ribbon 38.
During the slack removal operation, the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 detects the absence of the ribbon marker 38a, thereby performing an initial operation before the start of printing, which is a normal ribbon sensing, for example, a Y (yellow) adjacent to the ribbon marker 38a. After the start of the ink is performed, the printing start is sequentially controlled.

The printing operation of the thermal transfer printer having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in step S1 of FIG. 5, when the power of the thermal transfer printer is turned on, initialization of the thermal transfer printer such as a self-diagnosis test is performed. Next, in step S2 of FIG. 5, the platen roller 14 shown in FIG. 3 is in the initial state (standby state), rotates in the direction of arrow D, and is separated from the thermal head 18.

Next, the ribbon cassette 30 is
When inserted into the cassette storage section 12 through the opening 10g of
The ink ribbon 38 pulled out from the main body portion 30a toward the ribbon turn-back portion 30d is located between the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 14, and the ribbon guide portion 30b is connected to the head mount 19 and the top plate portion 10 of the frame 10.
e. Then, the take-up core 32 is engaged with the take-up bobbin 13.

Next, in steps S3 and S4 in FIG. 5, it is detected by a detection switch (not shown) whether or not the ribbon cassette 30 is mounted in the cassette storage section 12.
Then, if the detection switch is on, the process proceeds to the next step S5. In step S4, when the detection switch detects that the ribbon cassette 30 is not mounted in the cassette storage section 12 (OFF state), the process returns to step S2, and the ribbon cassette 30 is mounted until the ribbon cassette 30 is mounted. Is repeatedly detected.

Next, in step S5 in FIG. 5, the winding bobbin 13 is driven by the rotational driving force of a driving motor (not shown).
Through the winding core 32 in the counterclockwise direction (E in FIG. 3).
Direction) to take up the winding core 3 of the ink ribbon 38.
Then, the winding of the ink ribbon 38 is performed. At the same time as the start of the slack removal operation or during the slack removal operation, the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 detects the ribbon marker 38a, and the output marker detection signal is sent to the print control unit 45. And the operation procedure jumps to step S9 in FIG.

In step S6 of FIG. 5, the recording paper 100 fed from the paper supply unit (not shown) is loaded from the paper supply unit (not shown) while the ribbon cassette 30 is mounted in the cassette storage unit 12. It is inserted into the cartridge 22a, passes through the lower part of the ribbon cassette 30, and is conveyed to the lower side of the ink ribbon 38 arranged between the platen roller 14 and the thermal head 18.

Next, in step S9 of FIG. 5, the thermal transfer printer immediately starts printing on the fed recording paper 100. That is, the platen roller 14
The ink ribbon 38 and the recording paper 100 interposed therebetween are pressed and held between the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 14. Subsequently, the heating elements of the thermal head 18 are caused to generate heat based on the recording information, and the ink of the desired color of the ink ribbon 38 is sequentially transferred to the recording paper 100 and printed by the conveyance by rotation of the paper feed roller 25.

On the other hand, if the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 does not detect the ribbon marker 38a during the loosening operation of the ink ribbon 38 in steps S5 and S7 in FIG. 5, the process proceeds to step S8 in FIG. Ink ribbon 3
The initial operation (starting of a desired ink, etc.) before the start of printing, which is the ribbon sensing of No. 8, is performed, and thereafter, substantially the same printing as in the case where the ribbon marker 38a is provided is performed.

In the printing process of step S9, once a predetermined color, for example, Y (yellow) ink is printed on the predetermined recording paper 100, the recording paper 100 is moved to the paper feed roller 25 and the pressing roller 26 counterclockwise. The paper is conveyed in reverse by rotating it around. At the same time, ink ribbon 3
Switching the winding core 32 to 8 by winding the different color inks counterclockwise (E direction of FIG. 3), for example, M bullet the thermal head 18 at a predetermined position of the same recording paper 100 ink (magenta) Touch and overlap to print. In this way, a color image is printed by sequentially printing each ink of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black) each time.

Next, in step S11 in FIG. 5, after the printing of the desired color image is completed, the paper feed roller 25 is rotationally driven together with the transfer roller 26, and the recording paper 10 is rotated.
0 is discharged outside.

As described above, the thermal transfer printer according to the present embodiment and the method of printing a color image using the same have the following effects. 1) The thermal transfer printer according to the present embodiment includes a detection unit 20 that detects the presence or absence of a ribbon marker 38a, and an ink ribbon winding unit that winds a predetermined amount of the ink ribbon 38 based on a marker detection output from a photosensor (detection unit) 20. The ink ribbon take-up mechanism 34 includes a take-up core 34, that is, a take-up core 32 and a paper feed core 33, and a print controller 45 that controls a printing operation on the recording paper 100. 10
When the ink ribbon 3 is attached to the
8, the photo sensor (detection unit) 20 detects the ribbon marker 38 a during the loosening operation of the ink ribbon 38, and the print control unit 45 prints a color image on the recording paper 100 without ribbon sensing. Since the ink ribbon 38 is formed so as to be printed, the printing of the ink ribbon 38 can be controlled without waste.

2) In a color image printing method using a thermal transfer printer, inks of a plurality of different colors are sequentially and repeatedly applied in the longitudinal direction, and a ribbon marker 38a is arranged at a boundary portion of the applied area for each cycle. After the ribbon cassette 30 having the ribbon 38 is mounted on the cassette accommodating portion 12 of the frame 10, the operation of removing the slack of the ink ribbon 38 is started, and at the same time, the detection of the ribbon marker 38a by the detection portion 20 attached to the frame 10 is performed. When the detecting unit 20 detects the ribbon marker 38a during the operation of removing the slack of the ink ribbon 38, a color image is immediately printed on the recording paper 100 without ribbon sensing, so that approximately one cycle of each ink of the ink ribbon 38 can be used. Printing can be performed without being unused. Therefore, wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon 38 can be suppressed, and the running cost of the ink ribbon 38 can be reduced.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the ribbon marker is detected by the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon, the printing operation can be started immediately, wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be suppressed, and the running cost of the ribbon cassette can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a ribbon cassette mounted on the thermal transfer printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an operation of the thermal transfer printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing an ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating print control of a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Frame (printer main body) 20 Photosensor (detection part) 30 Ribbon cassette 34 Ribbon take-up mechanism part 38 Ink ribbon 38a Ribbon marker 45 Printing control part 100 Recording paper

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon in which a plurality of different colors of ink are sequentially and sequentially applied in a longitudinal direction, and a ribbon marker is arranged at a boundary portion of each cycle of the repeatedly applied area in each cycle. What is claimed is: 1. A thermal transfer printer for printing ink on an ink ribbon onto recording paper, comprising: a detection unit for detecting the presence or absence of the ribbon marker; and an ink ribbon for winding the ink ribbon by a predetermined amount based on a marker detection output from the detection unit. It has a take-up mechanism, and a print control unit for controlling the printing operation on the recording paper, and the ink ribbon take-up mechanism, when mounted the ribbon cassette, the slack eliminating operation of the ink ribbon When the detection unit detects the ribbon marker during the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon, the print control unit starts the printing operation. Thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is formed so as to. 2. A method in which a plurality of inks of different colors are sequentially and repeatedly applied in a longitudinal direction, and a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon having a ribbon marker disposed on a boundary portion of each of the applied areas in each cycle is attached to a printer main body. Starting the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon,
A detection unit attached to the printer body detects the ribbon marker, and when the detection unit detects the ribbon marker during the slack removal operation of the ink ribbon, a color image is printed on recording paper. A color image printing method using a thermal transfer printer.