JP2006001246A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which facilitates abnormality judge of the internal condition of the printer body. <P>SOLUTION: This printer 1, which has a printing part 5 for printing out image data on recording paper, prints and forms the image data, which are input from an external device, on the recording paper. The printer is equipped with: a detection part 2 for detecting internal information indicating the internal state of the printer body; a memory 3 for accumulating the internal information which is detected by the detection part 2, and for accumulating standard information serving as a judgmental standard for judging whether or not the internal information is abnormal; and a control part 4 for carrying out the self-diagnosis of the internal state of the printer body by comparison with the standard information and the internal information accumulated in the memory 3, so as to apply marking to the internal information indicating abnormality. The printer makes the printing part 5 print out the internal information subjected to the marking. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints image data input from an external apparatus on a recording medium, and more specifically, compares internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body with reference information, and performs marking by diagnosing an abnormality. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that attempts to easily determine abnormality in the internal state of the apparatus main body by printing out the internal information.

  In recent years, one frame or one field of a video signal of a video photographed by a video camera, a medical device such as an ultrasonic imaging apparatus or an MRI apparatus, or an electronic microscope is stored in a memory, and the video is printed on a recording sheet. Video printer apparatuses configured to do so are widely used in homes, medical sites, laboratories, schools, and the like. Since such a video printer device requires a high degree of print quality, a sublimation thermal printer device is generally the mainstream.

  This type of printing apparatus energizes the heating elements arranged in the thermal head, and uses the heat energy generated in the heating elements at that time to provide three colors (C, M, Y) or four colors (C, M , Y, K), the solid ink applied to the ink ribbon is evaporated, and the vapor of the ink is deposited on the recording paper for printing. In this case, for example, the thermal head is a consumable part, and when the head is used for a long time, the head surface provided with the heating element is worn by friction with the ink ribbon, and a part of the heating element is abnormally heated or disconnected to improve the image quality. May deteriorate. Therefore, it is necessary to detect an abnormality in advance and prepare a replacement part so that it can be dealt with immediately when a failure occurs, or to be replaced before the failure occurs.

For such problems, the conventional printing apparatus shows an input means for instructing output of internal information of the apparatus main body, a sense means for sensing the internal state of the apparatus main body, and an internal state obtained from the sense means. A storage means for storing internal information; and a print output means for printing out the contents stored in the storage means. For example, when an operator inputs a switch as an input means, or senses a failure state of the apparatus. When a sensor detects a failure, it outputs an internal information, and the internal information stored in the storage means is printed out by the printing means (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-290527 (Claim 1, FIG. 1)

  However, in such a conventional printing apparatus, when the operator inputs a switch, the internal information is printed out, so whether the internal state is correct is determined based on the information printed out by the operator. Judgment must be made. Therefore, when the operator is a general user, it is necessary to decode the internal state of the apparatus with reference to an instruction manual or the like, and it is not easy to grasp the internal state.

  Also, because internal information is printed out when a sensor failure or trouble is detected by the sensor, for example, if the consumable parts such as a thermal head are not ready, There was an inconvenience that the unusable state lasted for a long time.

  Therefore, the present invention addresses such problems, compares the internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body with the reference information, and prints out the internal information that has been diagnosed and marked as abnormal, It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus that facilitates determination of an abnormality in the internal state of the apparatus main body.

  In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus that has a printing unit that prints image data to a recording medium, and prints image data input from an external device on the recording medium. A detection unit that detects internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body, and stores the internal information detected by the detection unit, and stores reference information that serves as a determination criterion for determining abnormality of the internal information And a control unit that compares the internal information stored in the storage unit with reference information to self-diagnose the internal state of the apparatus body and marks internal information indicating an abnormality, The marked internal information is printed out by the printing unit.

  With such a configuration, the detection unit detects internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body, accumulates the internal information in the storage unit, and determines a judgment criterion for determining abnormality of the internal information stored in the storage unit in advance. The reference information and the internal information are read from the storage means and compared by the control unit, and the internal state of the apparatus body is self-diagnosed, the internal information indicating abnormality is marked, and the marked internal information is Print is output to a recording medium in the print unit. This facilitates determination of an abnormality in the internal state of the apparatus main body.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, self-diagnosis is performed on the internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body, and the internal information indicating the abnormality is printed on the recording medium, so that even a general user can use the apparatus main body. An abnormality in the internal state can be easily determined. Therefore, it is possible to prevent troubles such as troubles and troubles that occur suddenly at unexpected times. Further, since only the marked internal information is printed out, the printing space can be narrowed compared with the case where all the internal information is printed out, and the useless use of the recording medium can be eliminated.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the maintenance information of the apparatus main body is used as the internal information and the maintenance information is printed out, the user can easily grasp the maintenance information and wear out. Parts can be prepared and consumable parts can be replaced before failure occurs. Therefore, it is possible to solve the problem that the printing apparatus cannot be used for a long time because preparation or replacement of consumable parts is not in time, and usability is improved.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since the marked internal information is output outside the print area of the recording medium, the internal information is not printed on the output image. Therefore, the print quality of the output image is not deteriorated.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the internal information is automatically printed at a predetermined time set in advance in the apparatus main body, thereby performing a special operation for acquiring the internal information. There is no need, and handling becomes easy.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, since the internal information is printed out at an arbitrary time by an operation input to the apparatus main body, the user operates the apparatus main body at a desired time and can always Internal information can be acquired.

  Further, according to the invention according to claim 6, by printing out one or both of the marked internal information and the predetermined message corresponding to the internal information indicating abnormality of the apparatus main body, the internal state Can be grasped more easily, and a measure for an abnormality of the apparatus main body can be quickly performed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. The printing apparatus 1 prints input image data on a recording sheet as a recording medium, and includes a detection unit 2, a memory 3 as a storage unit, a control unit 4, and a printing unit 5. Yes.

  The detection unit 2 is a sensor that detects internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus main body, and is provided in a temperature sensor that detects the amount of heat generated by a thermal head 7 to be described later, or a recording paper conveyance mechanism unit (not shown). Sensor for detecting the number of prints and print length from the recording paper transport distance, a sensor for detecting the remaining amount of recording paper, or a sensor for detecting the remaining amount of ink ribbon provided in the ink ribbon transport mechanism (not shown) Etc. The number of prints may be counted by a counter. Here, the internal information includes, for example, the life and temperature information of the thermal head 7, the remaining amount of recording paper, the remaining amount of ink ribbon, and the like, and includes maintenance information of each consumable part.

  The memory 3 is a RAM that stores the internal information detected by the detection unit 2 via a control unit 4 (described later) and stores reference information that is a determination criterion for determining abnormality of the internal information. For each internal information, a warning message such as “It is time to replace the head. Please receive maintenance.” Or “It is time to replace the head. Please receive maintenance.” It has an accumulated ROM and the like.

  Further, the control unit 4 compares the internal information stored in the memory 3 with the reference information to self-diagnose the internal state of the apparatus body, and marks the internal information indicating an abnormality. The control is performed so as to operate appropriately, for example, a CPU.

  The printing unit 5 presses a thermal head 7 (described later) onto a platen (not shown) via a recording paper and an ink ribbon, and ink applied to the ink ribbon by heat energy generated by a heating element of the thermal head 7. Is printed on the recording paper, and the internal information marked by the control unit 4 is printed and output. The thermal energy generation state of the heating element provided in the thermal head 7 is determined according to the image data. It comprises a head control unit 6 for controlling and a thermal head 7 provided with heating elements arranged on the contact surface with the ink ribbon.

  The control unit 4 includes a mechanism driving unit 8 for sending recording paper and an ink ribbon at a predetermined speed, and a light emitting element (LED) and a liquid crystal display element (for displaying the operation state and internal state of the apparatus main body simply). A simple display unit 9 such as an LCD) is connected to a power switch and an operation unit 10 such as a slide switch or a volume that allows a user to freely change internal setting information such as color tone and print density. Further, the control unit 4 includes a video input terminal 11 so that a video camera, a video deck, a medical device such as an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an MRI apparatus, or an external video output apparatus such as an electron microscope can be connected. In addition, a video output terminal 12 is provided so that images and internal information can be displayed on an external monitor as required.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described.
First, in a normal operation, when the user operates the power switch of the operation unit 10 to activate the printing apparatus 1 and the printing operation of the printing apparatus 1 starts, the detection unit 2 is activated and the temperature of the thermal head 7 is increased. Internal information such as information, the number of printed sheets or the printing distance, the remaining amount of recording paper or the remaining amount of ink ribbon is acquired, and the internal information is stored in the memory 3 one by one via the control unit 4. The number of prints or the print distance is accumulated and accumulated every time the print operation is executed.

Next, the print output operation of the internal information of the apparatus main body will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, in step S1, a request command for requesting internal information is output from the control unit 4 at a predetermined time set in advance and stored in the memory 3, for example, immediately after turning on the power and starting the apparatus.

  Next, in step S2, in response to the request command, reference information serving as a determination criterion for determining abnormality of internal information is read from the ROM of the memory 3. In step S 3, the reference information is temporarily stored in a work area provided in the memory 3.

  In step S4, the internal information stored in the RAM of the memory 3 is read. Then, the process proceeds to step S5 and is temporarily stored in the work area provided in the memory 3 as in step S3.

  In step S <b> 6, the reference information and internal information corresponding to each other are read from each work area and compared by the control unit 4. Then, a self-diagnosis for the presence or absence of an abnormal value is executed for each internal information. In this case, since the life of the thermal head 7 is generally about 20,000, the thermal head 7 is in a stage where the number of printed internal information exceeds, for example, 15,000 sheets preset as reference information. It is determined that the life of the product has become abnormal. Further, regarding the remaining amount of recording paper and ink ribbon (for example, the number of printable sheets), it is determined that an abnormal state has occurred when the remaining amount of internal information reaches a predetermined remaining amount value set as reference information. The life of the thermal head 7 may be determined to be in an abnormal state when the temperature of the thermal head 7 exceeds a dangerous value set as reference information.

  In step S <b> 7, the control unit 4 determines whether there is internal information that has been determined to be in an abnormal state based on the diagnosis results for all internal information. Here, when the determination is “YES”, the process proceeds to step S8, and the internal information indicating abnormality is marked.

  In step S <b> 9, display data of characters related to the marked internal information is created by the control unit 4. In this case, a warning message set in advance according to the abnormal state of each internal information, such as “It is time to replace the head. Please receive maintenance.” Or “It is time to replace the main unit. Please receive maintenance.” Is read from the ROM of the memory 3 and constitutes the display data together with numerical data of internal information, for example, “head: total number of prints exceeding 15,000”. In addition, a rank may be given to the abnormal state of the internal information, and a warning message corresponding to each rank may be output.

  In step S10, the internal information and the warning message marked based on the display data are printed out by the printing unit 5 at the leading position of the recording paper, for example, as shown in FIG. In the figure, the arrows indicate the recording paper discharge direction.

  If “NO” determination is made in step S7, it indicates that there is no internal information indicating an abnormal value. At this time, the process proceeds to step S9 to create display data of “no abnormality”, and in step S10. To print it out. In step S7, when the determination is “NO”, the self-diagnosis operation may be terminated without outputting any print without passing through steps S9 and S10.

  Thus, according to the printing apparatus 1 of the present invention, the internal information (maintenance information) detected by the detection unit 2 is compared with the reference information to mark the internal information indicating abnormality, and the marked internal information Is automatically printed on the recording paper, so that the abnormal state of the apparatus main body can be easily grasped from the printing content of the recording paper. Therefore, it is possible to prevent troubles such as breakdowns and troubles by preparing and exchanging consumable parts corresponding to the printed internal information.

  In addition, by adding a warning message when printing out internal information, the user can recognize the maintenance time based on the warning message and perform maintenance without missing the time. Can do.

  Note that the internal information and message printout are not limited to when the apparatus main body is started as described above, and may be performed at a predetermined time such as when printing starts or when printing ends. Alternatively, an internal information request switch may be provided in the operation unit 10 so that a user can output a print at an arbitrary time by an operation input to the apparatus main body performed by the user pressing the internal information request switch.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which only the marked internal information and the corresponding message are printed out at the head position of the recording paper. However, as shown in FIG. Information and messages may be printed out. In this case, the print output of the internal information and the message may be performed in any margin area outside the print area AR, such as the head side or the rear side of the print area AR.
Further, the printing unit 5 is not limited to printing out both the internal information and the message, and may print out either one of them.

  The printing apparatus 1 is not limited to a sublimation type video printer, and may be a thermal paper type printer or an ink jet type printer. Further, the printing apparatus 1 may be a type that uses roll-type recording paper or a type that discharges recording paper one by one.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. It is a flowchart explaining operation | movement of the said printing apparatus. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printout of a warning message for a recording sheet. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a warning message is printed out in a blank portion outside a printing area of a recording sheet.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing apparatus 2 ... Detection part 3 ... Memory (memory | storage means)
4 ... Control unit 5 ... Printing unit

Claims (6)

A printing apparatus having a printing unit for printing image data on a recording medium, and printing image data input from an external device on the recording medium,
A detection unit for detecting internal information indicating the internal state of the apparatus body;
Storage means for accumulating the internal information detected by the detection unit, and accumulating reference information serving as a determination criterion for determining an abnormality of the internal information;
A control unit for comparing the internal information stored in the storage means with reference information to self-diagnose the internal state of the apparatus body and marking the internal information indicating abnormality;
A printing apparatus, wherein the printed internal information is printed out by the printing unit.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the internal information is maintenance information of the apparatus main body.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the marked internal information is printed out of a printing area of the recording medium.   2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the marked internal information is automatically printed at a predetermined time set in the apparatus main body.   2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the marked internal information is printed at an arbitrary time by an operation input to the apparatus main body.   2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit prints out one or both of the marked internal information and a predetermined message corresponding to the internal information indicating abnormality of the apparatus main body.

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