JP2004315142A - Receipt printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure operation property and recovery performance allowing a customer to pull out and catch receipts having different lengths without feeling sense of incongruity. <P>SOLUTION: The motion that pulling-out of the receipt issued from a delivery port is started or the customer attempts to pull it out is detected by a detector to prevent the customer from feeling holding force of a delivery roller by further conveying it in the direction of delivery from a receipt issuing condition. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a receipt printer, for example, a printer for printing out transaction details as a result of cash transactions in an automatic teller machine (ATM) or the like used in financial institutions and issuing them to customers. And a method for issuing receipts.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Generally, continuous paper is used as ATM receipt paper. Printing is performed while the continuous paper is being conveyed. When the paper reaches a predetermined length, the paper is cut and issued to the customer. If the customer forgets to take out the issued receipt or does not remove it because it is judged to be unnecessary, the receipt will be taken out by the next customer and the information will be leaked. Have started trading for customers. In order to perform this collection operation, the issued receipt is kept held by the transport rollers for a certain period of time until the sensor detects that the receipt has been removed. The customer pulls out the receipt held by the transport roller, but if the holding force of the roller is strong, it becomes difficult to pull out the receipt. On the other hand, when the holding force of the roller is weakened, there is a problem that the jam is easily caused because the conveying force is reduced in the normal conveying. Conventionally, to solve this problem, for example, a pin clutch is provided on a roller at a receipt discharge port, and a mechanism capable of idling a given distance is provided while holding the roller with a holding force, and the receipt is pulled out within the idling distance. Or a torque limiter is provided so that the receipt can be pulled out with a predetermined pulling force.
[0003]
In recent years, in view of diversification of receipts, there has been a demand for making print content variable and making the receipt length variable. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-261228 (Patent Literature 1) discloses a technique for issuing specification slips having different lengths by preventing a long sheet from being held by a roller upstream of a discharge roller. It is disclosed that a storage space is provided before discharging the wastewater.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-261228 A [0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, according to the technique of Patent Document 1, the size of the apparatus is increased in order to secure a storage space for paper.
For example, in the case of issuing a long receipt, if the receipt is discharged by an amount corresponding to the increase in the receipt length, the receipt hangs down from the discharge port, making it difficult for the customer to take the receipt. If the length remaining in the receipt printer is increased without increasing the discharge amount, the pin clutch cannot be completely removed only by the idling amount of the pin clutch.
[0006]
As a countermeasure, to increase the pin clutch idle feed amount, it is necessary to increase the diameter of the transport roller or add a gear that increases the amount of rotation of the discharge roller. It becomes a factor of cost increase. In addition, when a torque limiter is used, a certain holding force is required. Therefore, when the receipt is pulled for a long distance, it is difficult to eliminate a sense of incongruity at the time of the extracting operation. Further, Patent Document 1 does not particularly refer to the holding force and the extraction property of the discharge roller.
[0007]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a receipt printer in which when ejecting receipts having different lengths, the receipt extracting performance and the collection performance are ensured and the apparatus is not taken up in size.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention provides a printing mechanism that prints information on continuous paper, a cutting mechanism such as a cutter that cuts continuous paper on which information is printed to a certain length to create a receipt, a transport mechanism that transports the receipt, and a receipt mechanism. A roller mechanism that holds the receipt at the discharge port to issue a receipt, a detector that detects that the receipt held by the roller mechanism has started being pulled out, and a direction in which the receipt is discharged when the detector detects that the receipt has been pulled out And a driving means for driving a roller mechanism for transporting the sheet to the roller mechanism.
In another example, the detector may detect that the recipient of the receipt has performed an operation for receiving the receipt held by the roller mechanism, for example, an operation of reaching the hand.
The roller mechanism is preferably a roller having a pin clutch.
As a receipt issuing method, preferably, a step of printing information on continuous paper, a step of cutting the continuous paper on which the information is printed to a certain length to create a receipt, and a method of issuing the cut receipt Transporting the receipt to the outlet, holding the transported receipt at the outlet by a roller mechanism, detecting that the retained receipt has begun to be extracted, and detecting the start of receipt extraction. Driving the roller mechanism to further convey the receipt in the discharge direction when the receipt is performed, and driving the roller mechanism when the receipt held by the roller mechanism is not received by the recipient for a certain period of time. And collecting the receipt inside.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a general schematic diagram of a receipt printer to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram thereof.
[0010]
In the receipt printer 1, the control unit 21 has a microprocessor, and controls the entire receipt printer such as drive control of an actuator and printing preparation operation. The main mechanisms include a hopper 24 for storing the continuous paper 22 in a roll form, a transport path 25 for transporting the paper, an outlet 26 for issuing the receipt 10, a print head 27 for printing on continuous paper, and a print transport. A platen roller 28, a cutter 29 for cutting continuous paper into a predetermined length, a collection box 30 for storing receipts to be collected when printing is forgotten or a failure (printing of failure contents of the apparatus), and the like. ing.
The hopper 24 is provided with a separation guide 32 for separating and leading the leading end of the sheet to the transport path 25 and a feeding roller 33 for feeding the sheet. The transport path 25 includes a transport roller 34 for transporting the paper, a paper transport, and a discharge roller having a pin clutch that holds the issued receipt 10 and rotates without resistance when the recipient pulls the receipt. 35, a collection roller 36 for conveying the paper to the collection box 30, and a switching gate 37 for switching the conveyance path to the collection box 30 are arranged. The switching gate 37 rotates in the direction of the arrow x, and when the transport roller 34 rotates in the reverse direction and returns the receipt 10, the receipt is transported to the collection box 30 and collected.
[0011]
Further, various optical sensors are provided inside the receipt printer 1, especially in a paper transport path. That is, a remaining amount sensor 41 for detecting that the remaining amount of the continuous paper 22 has become low, a paper presence / absence sensor 42 for detecting that the leading end of the paper has been separately introduced and that the paper remains, and for performing the positioning of the paper. Position sensor 43, a removal sensor 44 for detecting whether or not the paper issued to the customer has been removed from the discharge port 26, a recovery path sensor 45 for detecting that the paper has been conveyed at the time of recovery, and the presence or absence of a receipt in the recovery box. An optical sensor such as a collection box sensor 46 for detecting is provided. Although these sensors are shown as transmission sensors in FIG. 1, they may be reflection sensors or sensors other than optical depending on the application.
[0012]
Although illustration of an actuator drive system such as a motor or a solenoid for driving each roller or gate is omitted in FIG. 1, the control drive means is shown in the control block diagram of FIG. For example, the paper transport section 50 is provided with a stepping motor 51 for transporting the paper, a clutch 52 is provided so that the paper on the side that issues the cut paper and the paper on the roll paper side can be transported separately, 60 and a switching gate operating solenoid 70 are provided.
[0013]
Here, the configuration of the discharge roller 35 will be described with reference to FIG.
The discharge roller 35 employs a pin clutch as a drive unit as shown in the figure, and a pin 82 is press-fitted into a roller shaft 81 as a rotation stop, and a pulley 83 is attached to the roller shaft 81 via a bearing 85. Further, a driven roller 38 having no driving force is arranged opposite the discharge roller 35, and the receipt 10 is held between these rollers.
In the discharge state, the drive belt 80 is rotated in the y direction by the actuator (not shown) to convey the receipt 10, so that the protrusions 84 of the pulley press the pins 82 to be integrated, and the roller shaft 81 is moved in the discharge direction. Rotate. (FIG. 4 (B)).
When the customer pulls out the receipt 10, the roller shaft 81 holding the discharge roller 35 by the receipt 10 can be rotated by the bearing 85 irrespective of the load of the drive belt 80, and the pin 82 and the projection 84 are separated from each other, and the (FIG. 4C). That is, the receipt extracting force can be extracted with a very small force without applying a load on the drive belt 80 or its actuator. This state in which the load is light continues until the pin 82 comes into contact with the opposite side of the protrusion 84, and this idle feed amount is represented by a. Here, a torque limiter that slips when a certain force is applied, instead of the pin clutch, may be used for the drive unit of the discharge roller.
[0014]
Next, the receipt issuing operation will be described with reference to FIGS.
For example, at the start of an ATM transaction, the leading end of the continuous paper 22 is at a position cut by the cutter 29. First, the transaction result is printed by the print head 27 while the sheet is conveyed leftward by the platen roller 28 (ST1). Further, after the sheet 22 is detected by the positioning sensor 43 by the platen roller 28 and the conveying roller 34, the sheet at the time of cutting is conveyed by a predetermined amount so as to have the normal receipt length L1 (ST2). The conveyance of the paper 22 is stopped, and the paper 22 is cut by the cutter 29 (ST3).
The receipt 10 on which the transaction result is printed and cut is driven by the conveying roller 34 and the discharge roller 35, and is conveyed by a predetermined amount after the positioning sensor 43 detects the rear end of the receipt 10, and is delivered to the customer through the discharge port 26. Issued (ST4). The issuing state of the receipt 10 is detected by the extraction sensor 44, and it can be detected whether or not the customer has extracted the receipt 10 (ST5).
[0015]
If the issued receipt 10 is taken out by the customer, a series of processing ends. However, if the receipt 10 is not extracted within the predetermined time (ST6), the switching gate 37 is rotated in the x direction (FIG. 1), the transport path is reversed, and the receipt 10 is stored in the collection box 30. (ST7).
At this time, if a pin clutch is used for the drive unit of the discharge roller, the discharge roller 35 starts to rotate after the drive belt 80 conveys the amount of the idle conveyance. If a torque limiter is used for the drive unit of the discharge roller, there is no time difference, but the transport force is weak. In either case, collecting the receipt 10 prevents the next transaction from being affected or preventing information from leaking.
[0016]
Since the present invention is based on the configuration shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and is improved in the discharge control of the receipt 10, the control operation is different from the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, according to the present embodiment, the detection means detects the start of pulling out the receipt 10 issued from the discharge port 26 or the operation of the customer trying to extract the receipt 10, and further adds the receipt 10 in the discharge direction from the state in which the receipt is issued. In this way, the customer does not feel the holding force of the discharge roller.
[0017]
The operation at the time of issuing a receipt will be described with reference to FIGS.
At the start of the transaction at the ATM, the tip of the receipt 10 is at a position cut by the cutter 29. First, the transaction result is printed by the print head 27 while transporting the sheet by the platen roller 28 (ST1). Further, from the detection timing of the positioning sensor 43 by the platen roller 28 and the conveying roller 34, the sheet is conveyed by a predetermined amount so as to have a desired receipt length L (ST2). Here, the receipt length L may be the same as or different from the normal receipt length L1. Also, printing may be performed during this conveyance. Thereafter, the sheet is stopped and cut by the cutter 29 (ST3). The receipt 10 printed with the transaction result and cut is conveyed by a predetermined amount by driving the conveying roller 34 and the discharge roller 35, and issued to the customer through the discharge port 26 (ST4). Here, if the amount of the receipt coming out from the discharge port 26 (hereinafter, the length of the receipt downstream of the discharge roller is referred to as c and described as a discharge amount) is short, it is difficult for the customer to grasp, and if it is long, the receipt hangs down. It is still difficult to grasp, so it is preferable that the discharge amount is constant regardless of the receipt length. For this reason, the discharge amount c is made appropriate by conveying the sheet by a predetermined amount from the positioning sensor 43 or by conveying the sheet by a predetermined amount from the timing when the sheet sensor is detected by the extraction sensor 44 before cutting. By doing so, the margin for grasping the receipt becomes constant, and operability can be ensured.
[0018]
The situation of the receipt in the discharge section will be described with reference to FIG.
When the receipt is issued, the discharge amount c is set to an appropriate value, so that the change in the receipt length L directly changes the length of the receipt 10 upstream of the discharge roller 35 (referred to as a holding length b). In a receipt where the receipt length L (L = b + c) is the normal length L1 or L <a + c, since b <a, it is within the idle running distance range of the pin clutch, so that the extraction property is maintained. If L becomes longer and L ≧ a + c, then b ≧ a, and the pin clutch will not be able to pull out enough due to the idling amount.
[0019]
Regardless of the length L of the receipt, when the issued receipt 10 starts to be pulled out, the trailing end of the receipt is detached from the pulling sensor 44 and the pulling is detected (ST5). In response to this, the drive belt 80 is driven in the discharge direction (ST6). In this additional conveyance, the receipt 80 is not conveyed because the belt 80 rotates the pulley 83 and the projection 84 of the pulley so as to follow the pin 82 that follows the receipt. Conversely, when viewed from the pin 82 side, the protrusion 84, which is the end point of the idle feed amount a, escapes, so that the idle feed amount is replenished. Due to this additional conveyance, even if the receipt becomes longer than the specified amount, the shortage of the pin clutch idle feeding amount a is compensated, so that the receipt can be extracted with a very small force.
[0020]
The speed of the additional conveyance may be a constant speed that is substantially the same as the general customer pulling speed. However, when the customer pulling speed is low, the paper may be ejected so as to press against the customer. Conversely, if the customer withdraws at a high speed, additional transport may not be in time, and the user may still feel uncomfortable. Therefore, it is even better to change the transport speed according to the speed at which the receipt is pulled out.
In this method, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the position of the sampling sensor 44 is shifted and a sampling measurement sensor 47 is further arranged, and the time difference between the two sensors 47 and 44 for detecting the absence of paper when the customer pulls out the receipt. Thus, the speed at which the receipt is pulled out may be calculated, and the speed of the additional conveyance may be changed. Alternatively, the speed of the additional conveyance may be changed by providing an encoder on the roller shaft 81 in order to measure the speed with which the discharge roller is pulled during the pulling.
[0021]
According to the above embodiment, it is possible to issue receipts having different lengths as in the related art so as to be able to be pulled out without any uncomfortable feeling without changing the configuration of the apparatus. A case where the receipt length L is further increased will be described with reference to FIG.
[0022]
In FIG. 8, the distance from the discharge roller 35 to the transport roller 34 is L1. When the receipt length L is further increased and L ≧ c + L1, the receipt 10 is held by the transport roller 34 disposed upstream of the discharge roller 34 in a state where the receipt is discharged. At this time, the holding force of the transport roller 34 is applied, and it becomes difficult to pull out. As a solution to this, a pin clutch is also provided in the drive unit of the transport roller 34, and the extraction sensor 44 is arranged within the idle feed amount of the two pin clutches. 43 may be used as the sampling sensor 44.
[0023]
As a result, even a longer receipt can be pulled out without any discomfort while keeping the discharge amount constant. Similarly, in the above-described embodiment, there is no problem even if the positioning sensor 43 detects the extraction. In the case where the extraction is detected by the positioning sensor 43, the extraction can be detected earlier than in the case where the detection is performed by the extraction sensor 44, so that there is an advantage that the receipt printer can be controlled more.
[0024]
As still another embodiment, in the above-described embodiment, the additional conveyance is performed by detecting the pull-out of the receipt itself. However, the rotation of the discharge roller 35 and the driven roller 38 when the receipt 10 is pulled out is detected by an encoder or the like. For example, a change in the receipt printer or the speed of the receipt printer may be used as a trigger to carry the sheet further. The encoder can be used when there is no space near the transport path and a transport path sensor cannot be added structurally. Since the sampling speed can be detected in addition to the sampling detection sensor 44, it can be replaced with two sensors 44 and 47.
[0025]
As still another example, an object detection sensor detects an operation of a customer reaching a receipt, or detects another operation performed in a transaction (for example, an operation performed by the customer such as a card or cash transfer, a button operation, etc.). By performing the above-described control in response to a customer operation such as additional transport, the extraction property can be improved.
[0026]
In any of the above examples, the transport amount in the additional transport may be equal to or more than the shortage (ba) of the idle transport amount a. Even if the receipt is no longer held by the discharge roller 35 due to the additional conveyance, the receipt is already recognized as having been extracted, and the receipt is not performed.
[0027]
【The invention's effect】
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when issuing receipts with different lengths, it is possible for a customer to pull out a receipt without a sense of incongruity, thereby improving operability. In addition, since it is not necessary to lengthen the receipt conveyance path, it is not necessary to particularly increase the size of the apparatus.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a receipt printer to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the receipt printer shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of a conventional receipt printer.
4A and 4B are diagrams showing a mechanism of a pin clutch, wherein FIG. 4A is a perspective view, and FIGS. 4B and 4C are side sectional views of a pin clutch portion.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the receipt printer according to one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state of a receipt discharge unit.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing a state of a receipt discharge unit according to one embodiment.
FIG. 8 is a side view showing a receipt discharge unit according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 receipt printer, 10 receipts 21 control unit, 22 continuous paper,
24 hopper, 25 transport path, 26 outlet, 27 print head,
28 platen roller, 29 cutter, 30 collection box, 32 separation guide,
33 feeding roller, 34 transport roller 35 discharge roller 36 collection roller, 37 switching gate, 38 driven roller,
41 remaining amount sensor, 42 paper presence sensor, 43 positioning sensor,
44 Extraction sensor, 45 Recovery path sensor, 46 Recovery box sensor,
47 sampling measurement sensor, 50 transport unit, 51 stepping motor,
52 clutch, 60 cutter operating motor,
70 solenoid for switching gate operation, 80 drive belt,
81 Roller shaft, 82 Pin, 83 Pulley, 84 Pulley protrusion.

Claims (4)

A printing mechanism for printing information on continuous paper, a cutting mechanism for cutting the continuous paper on which information is printed to a certain length to create a receipt, a transport mechanism for transporting the receipt, and a discharge mechanism for issuing the receipt. A roller mechanism for holding the receipt at the exit, a detector for detecting that the receipt held by the roller mechanism has begun to be withdrawn, and a direction for discharging the receipt when the detector detects the start of the receipt withdrawal. And a driving unit for driving the roller mechanism to convey the sheet to the receipt printer. A printing mechanism for printing information on continuous paper, a cutting mechanism for cutting the continuous paper on which information is printed to a certain length to create a receipt, a transport mechanism for transporting the receipt, and a discharge mechanism for issuing the receipt. A roller mechanism for holding the receipt at the exit, a detector for detecting that the recipient of the receipt has performed an operation for receiving the receipt held by the roller mechanism, and a case where the detector detects the operation. And a drive unit for driving the roller mechanism to convey the receipt in a discharge direction. 3. The receipt printer according to claim 1, wherein the roller mechanism has a roller having a pin clutch. Printing information on a continuous form;
Cutting the continuous paper on which the information is printed to a certain length to create a receipt;
Transporting the cut receipt to an outlet to issue it;
Holding the conveyed receipt at an outlet by a roller mechanism;
Detecting that the held receipt has begun to be withdrawn;
Driving the roller mechanism to additionally convey the receipt in the discharge direction when the start of receipt pulling is detected;
If the receipt held by the roller mechanism has not been received by the recipient for a certain period of time, driving the roller mechanism to collect the receipt inside;
Issuance method having a receipt.

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