JP2005335930A - Cutform issuing device and its control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cutform issuing device capable of completely using up roll paper up to the end, and capable of issuing an appearance arranged cutform up to the end where the roll paper is used up. <P>SOLUTION: A residual quantity advance notice mark 31 is arranged in a position equivalent to the predetermined residual number determined with the specified length of the cutform of the roll paper as a reference, and a residual quantity advance notice mark detecting sensor 6 for detecting a residual quantity advance notice mark is arranged in the cutform issuing device. Every time when issuing the cutform, the roll paper is carried by the specified length of the cutform, and a feed quantity is measured up to finishing a one time carry of the roll paper from when detecting the residual quantity advance notice mark 31 by the residual quantity advance notice mark detecting sensor 6 in this carry. An optimal value of the feed quantity is calculated every time when issuing the cutform of the roll paper thereafter on the basis of this feed quantity. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cut sheet issuing device that issues a cut sheet such as a receipt using a roll paper as a printing recording medium, and a control method thereof.

  In a toll collection system for toll roads such as expressways, a receipt (single form) is issued from a single form issuing device to a user when a fee is paid at the entrance or exit of a toll gate. In this single sheet issue device, roll paper is used as a recording medium for printing, and this roll paper is conveyed so as to pass through the printing section every time a receipt is issued, and is cut and issued as a receipt. Yes.

In such a single sheet issuing device, a mechanism for detecting the remaining amount of roll paper is provided. When it is detected that the remaining amount is zero, the receipt issuance is stopped and a new roll paper is issued. Issuing is resumed after waiting for input. As a mechanism for detecting the remaining amount of roll paper, there is a system in which a change in roll diameter accompanying consumption of roll paper is detected by a potentiometer.
JP 2001-026350 A

  However, this method is capable of detecting the roll diameter, that is, the remaining number of rolls of the roll paper, and cannot detect the situation in which the roll paper is long enough to issue a single sheet. It is difficult to use up. In addition, when trying to use the roll paper to the end, it is not possible to obtain a single sheet as specified, such as a roll paper breakage during printing.

  Even if the length of the roll paper is determined so that it is completely consumed by the single-sheet issuing device without leaving a half-edge, even if the length of the roll paper is small, there is a slight variation in the length consumed for each receipt issue. As a result, an odd length often remains as a result.

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is possible to completely use the roll paper to the end and to issue a well-formed single sheet until the end when the roll paper is used up. An object of the present invention is to provide a single sheet issuing device and a control method thereof.

  In order to achieve such an object, the single sheet issuing device of the present invention is a roll paper in which a remaining amount notice mark is provided at a position corresponding to a predetermined number of sheets determined based on a prescribed length of a single sheet to be issued. Conveying means, printing means for printing on the roll paper conveyed by the conveying means, and cutting means for cutting the roll paper at a predetermined position set downstream of the printing position by the printing means into a single sheet And a detecting means for detecting the remaining amount notice mark at a position away from the position where cutting is performed by a predetermined length of the cut sheet, and a roll by a conveying means every time a cut sheet is issued. The paper is transported for the specified length of a single sheet, and the amount of feed from when the remaining amount warning mark is detected by the detection means during this transport until the end of one roll of paper is measured, and this measurement is performed. Issue subsequent roll paper sheets based on the feed amount It is intended to and a optimum feed amount calculating means for calculating a that feed amount of the optimum value for each dose.

  The optimum feed amount calculation means sets the result obtained by subtracting the amount obtained by dividing the measured feed amount by the value of the remaining predetermined number of sheets from the feed amount corresponding to the specified length of a single sheet.

  Further, the single sheet issuing device of the present invention optimizes the printing condition optimization that optimizes the condition related to the length of the roll paper feed direction of the printing by the printing means according to the optimum value calculated by the optimum feeding amount calculating means. Means may further be provided.

  According to the single sheet issuing apparatus and the control method thereof of the present invention, it is possible to completely use up the roll paper to the end, and to issue a single form that is well formed until the end when the roll paper is used up.

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

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a mechanical configuration of a single sheet issue apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in the figure, this single-cut issue apparatus 100 includes two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B for holding a roll 1A of roll paper 1 at two positions on its peripheral surface. A roll 1A of roll paper 1 is held in a state of being placed on these two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B. The holding lever 3 is further in contact with the peripheral surface of the roll 1A of the roll paper 1 placed on the two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B. The holding lever 3 is applied with a biasing force in the direction of the arrow R by an elastic member (not shown), so that the holding lever 3 moves following the movement of the position of the roll paper roll 1A as the roll paper 1 is consumed. The paper 1 is stably held between the roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B.

  Between the roll paper roll 1A held on the two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B and the single sheet issue port 4, a guide roller 5, a remaining amount warning mark detection sensor 6, a conveyance roller 7, A printing unit 8, a timing mark detection sensor 9, a printing confirmation sensor (not shown), a cutter 10, a cut sheet detection sensor 11, a cut sheet issue detection sensor 12, and the like are sequentially arranged.

  The guide roller 5 guides the conveyance of the roll paper 1 fed out from the roll paper roll 1A held on the two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B.

  The remaining amount notice mark detection sensor 6 is a sensor for detecting the remaining amount notice mark provided on the roll paper 1 and is, for example, a reflective optical sensor.

  The transport roller 7 is composed of a pair of rollers whose peripheral surfaces are in contact with each other. One roller 7A is a drive roller connected to a roll paper feed motor and the other is a roll paper 1 sandwiched between the drive roller 7A. However, it is a driven roller 7B that rotates following the drive roller 7A.

  The printing unit 8 is for performing printing on the roll paper 1 and includes, for example, a print head 8A such as a thermal head and a platen roller 8B that holds the roll paper 1 between the print head 8A. .

  The timing mark detection sensor 9 is a sensor that detects a timing mark provided on the roll paper 1 and includes, for example, a light emitting unit 9A and a light receiving unit 9B that constitute a transmissive sensor.

  The cutter 10 is for cutting a printed region from the roll paper 1 to form a single sheet, and is operated by a cutter driving mechanism such as a cutter solenoid (not shown).

  The single cut-out detection sensor 11 is a sensor for detecting the extraction of a single cut from the issuing port 4, and for example, a reflection type optical sensor or the like is used. The single-cut issue detection sensor 12 includes a light-emitting unit 12A and a light-receiving unit 12B that constitute, for example, a transmissive sensor for detecting completion of single-cut issue.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the single-cut issuer 100 according to this embodiment.

  The control unit 21 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) that controls the entire sheet issuing device 100, a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores firmware executed by the CPU, and a RAM (Random) that is used as a work area of the CPU. Access Memory). The control unit 21 includes sensors such as a remaining amount warning mark detection sensor 6, a timing mark detection sensor 9, a print confirmation sensor (not shown), a cut sheet detection sensor 11, and a cut sheet issue detection sensor 12 through the sensor I / F 22. The result of detection by is monitored, and processing control determined by the firmware is performed based on these monitoring results.

  The control unit 21 controls the operation of the roll paper feed motor 24 through the motor drive circuit 23 and controls the drive of the cutter solenoid 26 through the solenoid drive circuit 25. Further, the control unit 21 controls the print head 8 </ b> A of the print unit 8 via the print head drive circuit 27.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the position of the remaining amount notice mark 31 on the roll paper 1. In the roll paper 1, a remaining amount notice mark 31 that is a detection target by the remaining amount notice mark detection sensor 6 is provided at a predetermined number of remaining positions determined based on a predetermined length (for example, 78 mm) of a single sheet to be issued. Is provided by printing or the like. More specifically, when approximately 2200 sheets are issued from one roll of roll paper 1, remaining notice marks 31 are provided at the remaining 20 positions. The position of the remaining 20 sheets is, more strictly, the position of the tip of the remaining 20 sheets. The remaining amount notice mark 31 is attached to the surface opposite to the surface on which the roll paper 1 is printed, for example, as a region having a different reflectance from the surface of the roll paper 1. Further, on the surface opposite to the surface on which the roll paper 1 is printed, timing marks (not shown) for controlling the speed of conveyance of the roll paper 1 are provided at a constant pitch in the conveyance direction.

  Next, the operation of issuing a single sheet in the single sheet issuing apparatus 100 of this embodiment will be described.

  The control unit 21 supplies a drive signal to the motor drive circuit 23 to drive the roll paper feed motor 24. When the transport roller 7 is rotated by driving the roll paper feed motor 24, the roll paper 1 is fed out and transported from the roll paper roll 1A on the two roll paper support rolls 2A and 2B. As the roll paper 1 is conveyed, printing on the roll paper 1 is performed by the printing unit 8. The control unit 21 outputs a control signal to the motor drive circuit 23 so that the roll paper 1 is conveyed by a predetermined length of the single sheet in response to the single issue of the single sheet. At this time, control is performed so as to compensate the accuracy of the conveyance speed based on the detection timing of the timing mark by the timing mark detection sensor 9.

  When the printing on the roll paper 1 is completed and one conveyance of the roll paper 1 is completed, the roll paper 1 is extended from the cutting position of the cutter 10 by the specified length of the single sheet. . The control unit 21 drives the cutter solenoid 26 through the solenoid drive circuit 25 to cut the roll paper 1 with the cutter 10. That is, the printed area is separated from the roll paper 1 to form a single sheet. FIG. 4 shows a receipt written as an example of a single sheet. On this receipt, the name of the toll gate, the type of vehicle, the date, the fee, the print confirmation mark, etc. are printed.

  At this time, since the leading edge of the single sheet is protruding from the issuing port 4, the user can pull out the single sheet from the issuing port 4. When a single sheet is extracted from the issue port 4, this is detected by the single sheet extraction detection sensor 11, and the single issue processing of the single sheet is completed.

  In addition to the above operations, detection of printing completion by detecting a print confirmation mark printed on the roll paper 1 by a print confirmation sensor (not shown) and control based on these detections are performed.

  Next, the operation of using up the roll paper 1 to the end by detecting the remaining amount notice mark 31 and optimizing the one-time feeding amount of the roll paper 1 in the single sheet issuing apparatus 100 of this embodiment will be described. To do.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an operation for optimizing the single feed amount of the roll paper 1.

  FIG. 5A shows a state in which after the roll paper 1 is cut, the remaining 20 + 2th portion of the roll paper 1 is waiting for the next single sheet issue. At this time, the leading edge of the roll paper 1 is at a cutting position by the cutter 10. The remaining amount notice mark 31 has not reached the detection position by the remaining amount notice mark detection sensor 6.

  When the next single sheet issuance process occurs, the transport of the roll paper 1 is resumed, and the remaining 20 + 2 sheets of the roll paper 1 are printed. A single conveyance of the roll paper 1 is performed for a predetermined length of a single sheet (for example, 78 mm). During the conveyance of the roll paper 1, the remaining amount notice mark 31 is detected by the remaining amount notice mark detection sensor 6. FIG. 5B shows a state at this time.

  When the control unit 21 receives the detection signal from the remaining amount warning mark detection sensor 6, the feed amount from that point until the end of one conveyance of the roll paper 1, that is, as shown in FIG. The feed amount X until the tip of the remaining 20 + 1th portion of the roll paper 1 reaches the cutting position by the cutter 10 is measured. This feed amount can be measured by counting the number of drive pulses supplied to the roll paper feed motor 24 or the like.

  The portion of the roll paper 1 corresponding to the feed amount X is an area from the position of the remaining amount notice mark 31 to the end of the roll paper 1, that is, a portion corresponding to the remaining predetermined number of sheets determined on the basis of the prescribed length of a single sheet. It is an overlapping area. Accordingly, if the roll paper 1 is conveyed by the specified length of the single sheet every time a single sheet is issued, the roll sheet is cut when the last single sheet is issued. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control unit 21 obtains the optimum value of the transport amount for one transport of the roll paper 1 from the measured transport amount X and applies it to the transport control of the roll paper 1.

  As a method for obtaining the optimum value of the feed amount, a result obtained by subtracting an amount obtained by dividing the measured feed amount X by the value of the remaining predetermined number of sheets from a feed amount (for example, 78 mm) corresponding to a predetermined length of a single sheet is obtained. The method of making it the optimal value etc. are mentioned. That is, it is a method of compensating for the feed amount X by uniformly shortening the length of the remaining predetermined number of cut sheets. Note that the length of the remaining predetermined number of sheets does not necessarily have to be shortened uniformly. For example, only a part of the remaining predetermined number of sheets may be supplemented with the feed amount X. In addition, even if the remaining predetermined number of single sheets supplements the feed amount X, the length may be changed according to the single sheet. In any case, it is sufficient that the feed amount X can be supplemented with the remaining predetermined number of sheets so that the roll paper 1 is finally used up. However, it is considered that reducing the length of the remaining predetermined number of sheets uniformly is an optimal method in terms of ease of calculation and control.

  In addition, the control unit 21 optimizes various conditions regarding the length of the roll paper 1 in the feed direction, such as the print length and pitch of the print unit 8, in accordance with the change of the single feed amount of the roll paper 1. You may control. As a result, even if the length of a single sheet is shortened, the appearance of printing does not change significantly, and a single sheet with stable quality can be issued.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples described above, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a figure which shows the mechanical structure of the single ticket issuing apparatus 100 concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the electrical structure of the single ticket issuing apparatus 100 of this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the position of a remaining amount notice mark 31 on the roll paper 1. It is a figure which shows the document of the receipt which is an example of a single sheet. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation of optimizing a single feed amount of roll paper 1 in the single sheet issue apparatus 100 of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Roll paper, 1A ... Roll paper roll, 2A, 2B ... Roll paper support roll, 3 ... Holding lever, 4 ... Issuing port, 5 ... Guide roller, 6 ... Remaining amount warning mark detection sensor, 7 ... Conveyance roller, 8 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Printing part, 9 ... Timing mark detection sensor, 10 ... Cutter, 11 ... Single-cut drawing detection sensor, 12 ... Single-cut issue detection sensor, 21 ... Control part, 22 ... Sensor I / F, 23 ... Motor drive circuit, 24 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS ... Roll paper feed motor, 25 ... Solenoid drive circuit, 26 ... Cutter solenoid, 26 ... Cutter solenoid, 27 ... Print head drive circuit, 31 ... Remaining amount warning mark

Claims (6)

Transport means for transporting a roll paper provided with a remaining amount notice mark at a predetermined number of remaining positions determined based on a prescribed length of a single sheet to be issued;
Printing means for printing on the roll paper conveyed by the conveying means;
Cutting means for cutting the roll paper at a predetermined position set downstream of the printing position by the printing means to form the single sheet;
Detecting means for detecting the remaining amount notice mark at a position away from the position where the cutting is performed upstream by a predetermined length of the single sheet;
Each time the cut sheet is issued, the transport unit transports the roll paper for a predetermined length of the cut sheet, and the detection unit detects the remaining amount notice mark during the transport. Measure the amount of feed until one roll of paper is transported, and based on this measured amount of feed, calculate the optimum value of the amount of feed for each subsequent roll sheet issue. A single-cut issuing device comprising: a feed amount calculating means.   The optimum feed amount calculating means sets the optimum value as a result of subtracting an amount obtained by dividing the measured feed amount by the value of the remaining predetermined number of sheets from a feed amount corresponding to a predetermined length of the single sheet. The single-cut issuing device according to claim 1, wherein:   According to the optimum value calculated by the optimum feed amount calculating means, the printing apparatus further comprises a printing condition optimizing means for optimizing a condition relating to a length of the roll paper in the feed direction of printing by the printing means. The single-cut issuing device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above. Transport means for transporting a roll paper provided with a remaining amount notice mark at a predetermined number of remaining positions determined based on a prescribed length of a single sheet to be issued;
Printing means for printing on the roll paper conveyed by the conveying means;
Cutting means for cutting the roll paper at a predetermined position set downstream of the printing position by the printing means to form the single sheet;
Detecting means for detecting the remaining amount notice mark at a position away from the position where the cutting is performed upstream by a predetermined length of the single sheet;
Control means,
Each time the cut sheet is issued by the control means, the roll paper is conveyed by a predetermined length of the cut sheet by the conveying means, and the remaining amount warning mark is displayed by the detecting means during the conveyance. Measure the feed amount from the point of detection until the end of one conveyance of the roll paper, and based on the measured feed amount, A method for controlling a single sheet issuing apparatus, characterized in that an optimum value is calculated.   The control means sets the optimum value as a result of subtracting an amount obtained by dividing the measured feed amount by the value of the remaining predetermined number of sheets from a feed amount corresponding to a predetermined length of the cut sheet. The method for controlling a single sheet issuing apparatus according to claim 4.   6. The unit according to claim 4, wherein the control unit optimizes a condition related to a length in a feeding direction of the roll paper of printing by the printing unit according to the calculated optimum value. Control method of vote issuing device.

Images