JP2003159842A - Label printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that when continuous label sheets are to be printed sheet by sheet by a label printer having a carriage, a not yet recorded label advancing to the vicinity of a sheet discharge opening must be returned temporarily back to the upstream side of the recording position before being advanced further toward the recording position, and that operation causes a time loss. <P>SOLUTION: When a plurality of TOF (Top Of Form) sensors are arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side of a recording area and a sheet is carried to a recording position while involving inversion carriage, the time required for recording can be shortened because the amount of inversion carriage is small and forward operation following to inversion can be saved. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a label printer for intermittently recording on a recording medium, such as a label sheet having a plurality of labels attached to a mount, by a recording head mounted on a carriage that moves left and right.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a label printer which prints on a label or the like and has a relatively slow printing speed, a carriage having a print head scans left and right to perform printing, and then the paper is conveyed by a printing area. The operation of recording the next recording area is repeated to perform recording on one sheet or a plurality of labels.

[0003]

In the label printer of the above method, it is necessary to convey the trailing edge of the last label for which the recording operation has been completed, until the trailing edge of the label is pushed to the downstream side from the sheet discharge port.
On the other hand, the paper is pulled out to the unrecorded label recording portion because a plurality of labels are temporarily attached at regular intervals. Therefore, before the next recording, the unrecorded label is temporarily detected at the upstream side of the recording head to detect the leading end of the label.
(Top Of Form) It was necessary to return to the front of the sensor, then convey it again to the front, hold it at the recording start position, and start the recording operation. The present invention focuses on these operations, and shortens the substantial time required for the recording operation by reducing the returning distance of the unrecorded label before the start of recording and further omitting the operation of transporting the label forward thereafter. It aims at that.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object,
According to the present invention, a recording head having a plurality of recording elements, a carriage for mounting the recording head, moving the recording head in the left-right direction, and recording, and a plurality of recording heads temporarily attached to a semitransparent strip-shaped mount at predetermined intervals. A recording medium including the label, a conveying unit capable of conveying the recording medium in the front-rear direction, and a plurality of sensors for detecting the label, and at least one of the plurality of sensors is located above the recording area of the recording head. It is located on the downstream side.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides that the recording medium to be used is a band-shaped paper which is marked at regular intervals.
Or, it has a window-shaped hole.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the plurality of sensors are of a transmissive type or a reflective type, and one of a light emitting element and a light receiving element is mounted on the carriage.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, based on whether the head portion of the recording medium is upstream or downstream of the recording area of the recording head before recording is started, Select the sensor to detect.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, the optical axes of the plurality of sensors are inclined with respect to the surface of the recording medium.

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the light emitting elements of the transmissive sensor and the reflective sensor are the same light source.

[0010]

The function of the present invention is that the time required to start recording on the leading label can be shortened, and peeling defects, jams, etc. of recorded labels can be detected more quickly and accurately in the operation of issuing labels one by one. become.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a label printer embodying the present invention. FIG. 1-1 is a top view and FIGS. 1-2 are side views. In the present embodiment, the recording operation is performed by moving the recording head (101), the ink cartridge (109), and the carriage (110) carrying the head holder (100) left and right along the guide shaft (111). The recording medium (108) has a plurality of labels (107) temporarily attached to a semitransparent mount (106).
After being conveyed to the recording position on the platen, color recording is performed by scanning the carriage (110) in the left-right direction.
Then, by intermittently repeating the conveyance of the recording medium (108) according to the recording width, the color recording for one page is completed. A transmission type optical sensor 103 is a characteristic part of the present invention in that it has two sets of a transmission type TOF sensor (103a) on the upstream side and a transmission type TOF sensor (103b) on the downstream side of the recording head (101). is there.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the light emitting elements of the two transmissive TOF sensors 103a and 103b are located below the paper passing portion,
The light receiving element is arranged above the paper passing portion. The light receiving element of the transmission type TOF sensor 103a on the upstream side is mounted on the carriage 110.

FIGS. 2-1 to 2-7 show the movement of the recording medium (108) when recording on a label only with the conventional upstream TOF sensor (103b).

First, in FIG. 2A, the leading end of the unrecorded first label (203) is detected by the TOF sensor (103a) and conveyed to the recording area of the recording head (101). In FIG. 2B, the first label (203) for which recording has been completed is sent to the front from the paper discharge port of the printer. In this state, the second unrecorded label (204) is also fed to the front of the paper discharge port. Therefore, in the next recording operation, as shown in FIG. 2-3, the leading edge of the second unrecorded label (204) is set to T.
It is necessary to return to the upstream side of the OF sensor (103a).
It is unknown whether the second unrecorded label 204 is normally attached temporarily. Then, as with the first sheet, the label (20
The tip of 4) is detected by the TOF sensor (103a) and is conveyed to the recording position (FIG. 2-4). Figure 2-5 shows the label (20
4) shows a state in which the print head (101) prints in the first scan, and FIG. 2-6 shows a state in which printing by the final scan on the label (204) is completed. After that, the label (204) is also sent out to the front from the paper discharge port similarly to the label (203) in FIG.

Next, the movement of the recording medium (108) improved by the present invention is shown in FIG. 3-1 and 3
-2 is the same as in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and therefore its explanation is omitted. When the recording instruction is given to the second label (204), the recording medium (108) begins to return to the upstream side, but the TOF sensor (10) arranged downstream from the recording head (101).
Since the tip of the label (204) can be detected by 3b), the label (204) can be stopped at the recording head position. After that, it is the same as FIG. 2, but FIG. 3-4 shows a state in which the print head (101) prints on the label (204) in the first scan, and FIG. 3-5 shows the final print on the label (204). Recording by scanning is completed, and the label (20
4) is sent to the front from the paper exit. Immediately before the state shown in FIG. 3-3, if the label (204) is in an incomplete state such as broken, it is possible to issue an alarm or stop the operation before the recording operation.

FIG. 4 shows the detailed arrangement and configuration of the two TOF sensors (103a, 103b) which is a feature of the present invention. When the label (107) is used as the recording medium (108), the TOF sensor (103a, 103b) is a transmissive sensor. Light emitting element (313a, 313
b) is the light receiving elements (312a, 312a, 312a) below the paper passing portion.
b) is arranged above the paper passing portion, and the light is transmitted through the axis recording medium (10
It has a slope with respect to 8). This is because it is also used as a light emitting element of a reflection type sensor described later. In this embodiment, the TOF on the upstream side
The light receiving element (312a) of the sensor 103a is the carriage 1
It is installed in 10.

FIG. 5 shows that when the recording medium (108) is not label paper but continuous paper such as tag paper is used, the TOF sensors (103a, 103b) are reflective type instead of transmissive type. The light emitting elements (313a, 313b) use the same light source as the transmissive type, and the light receiving elements (314a, 314b)
Is also arranged below the paper passing portion. The recording start position is determined by detecting the page top mark (TOF mark) printed on the back surface of normal paper.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the label printer of this embodiment. The host 601 transfers the print data used for printing to the interface controller 602 of the label printer and gives an instruction to start the print processing. Also, a command for instructing the number, type, size, etc. of labels to be recorded is issued by the interface controller 602.
Can be transferred to and instructed. CPU (Central Processing U
nit) 601 is an arithmetic processing unit that controls the overall reception of the print data of the label printer, the print operation, the handling of the print medium, and the like. After analyzing the received command, the CPU 601 develops bitmap data of the image data of each color component of the recording data in the image memory 604 and draws it. As an operation process before recording, the CPU 601 controls the paper feed motor 612.
The conveyance motor 613 is driven via the motor drive unit 610 to set the leading label of the recording medium 108 at the recording start position. Since the leading label may have advanced to the front of the paper discharge unit of the printer, at that time, the recording medium 108 is once returned and the TOF sensor (1
The light receiving element (312a) of 03b) detects the label front end and stops at the recording start position. Subsequently, the CPU 601 starts driving the carriage motor 611, sequentially reads the image data of the corresponding color from the image memory 604 corresponding to the carriage position, and ejects the ink of the corresponding color via the recording head control circuit 609.
(K), 101 (C), 101 (M), 101 (Y),
Transfer data to and record in color.

Here, K: black, C: cyan, M:
Magenta, Y: means yellow. The operation of the CPU 601 is executed based on the processing program stored in the program ROM 603. A work RAM 605 is used as a working memory. The EEPROM 606 is a non-volatile memory, and stores the parameters peculiar to the apparatus such as the minute recording position adjustment value between the recording heads and the ink consumption amount for each color.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing how to move the leading edge of the label to the recording start position when a recording start command is received from the host (600). This flowchart corresponds to the operation sequence described in FIG. First, when the label is detected at the position of the second TOF sensor (103b) on the downstream side (S701), reverse conveyance is started (S708), and the second TOF sensor (103b) moves the label leading edge within the certain time (S709). After the detection (S710), the label reaches the recording start position (S7).
06) Stop (S706) and complete recording preparation. S7
Returning to 01, if the label is not detected at the position of the second TOF sensor (103b) on the downstream side (S701), the forward rotation conveyance is started (S702) and the first TOF sensor (103a) on the upstream side is started within a certain time (S703). At S704, the label edge is detected, and when the recording start position is further reached (S70).
5) The conveyance is stopped (S706), and the recording preparation is completed.
If a timeout occurs in S703 or S709, the transport operation is stopped (S711) and an alarm is sent (S71).
2). The alarm is the operation panel in the label printer (607)
LED display on top, interface controller (60
It is also sent to the host (600) via 2).

[0022]

According to the present invention, by arranging a plurality of TOF sensors on the upstream side and the downstream side of the recording area, the reverse conveyance amount is small as an advantage at the time of moving the sheet to the recording position accompanied by reverse conveyance. In addition, since the forward rotation operation can be omitted from the reverse rotation, the time required for recording can be shortened as a result.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a top sectional view and a side sectional view of a label printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a continuous movement of a sheet in a recording operation of a conventional label printer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an improved movement of a sheet in a recording operation of a label printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a detection method by a plurality of transmissive TOF sensors when label paper is used in a label printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a detection method using a plurality of reflective TOF sensors when tag paper is used in a label printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows an electrical block diagram of a label printer embodying the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing sheet control of a label printer embodying the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 head holder 101 recording head 102 carriage drive belt 103a upstream side TOF sensor 103b downstream TOF sensor 104 entrance conveyance roller 105 exit conveyance roller 106 mount 107 labels 108 recording medium 109 ink cartridge 110 carriage 111 guide shaft 203 First page label 204 Second page label 600 host PC 601 CPU 602 Interface controller 603 Program ROM 604 image memory 605 Work RAM 606 EEPROM 607 Operation panel 407 Various sensors 608 I / O (input / output port) 609 recording head control circuit 610 Motor drive unit 611 Carriage motor 612 Paper feed motor 613 Conveyor motor

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording head having a plurality of recording elements, a carriage on which the recording head is mounted, which is moved in the left-right direction for recording, and a translucent strip-shaped mount, which is temporarily attached at a predetermined interval. It has a recording medium including a plurality of labels, a conveying unit capable of conveying the recording medium in the front-rear direction, and a plurality of sensors for detecting the labels, and at least one of the plurality of sensors is a recording area of the recording head. A label printer characterized in that it is arranged further downstream 2. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium to be used is a belt-shaped sheet having markings or window-shaped holes at regular intervals. 3. The plurality of sensors are of a transmissive type or a reflective type, and one of a light emitting element and a light receiving element is mounted on the carriage.
Label printer according to 1 and 2 4. A sensor for detecting the head portion is selected based on whether the head portion of the recording medium is upstream or downstream of the recording area of the recording head before the start of recording. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein 5. The label printer according to claim 1, wherein the optical axes of the plurality of sensors are inclined with respect to the surface of the recording medium. 6. The light-emitting elements of the transmissive sensor and the reflective sensor are formed of the same light source.
Label printer described in