JP2006062104A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform overcoating on the image of an object printed by means of an inkjet printer by utilizing an overcoating function originally provided in a thermal printer. <P>SOLUTION: The thermal printer comprises an ordinary ink ribbon, a cassette exclusive for overcoat, a section 21 for detecting the cassette exclusive for overcoat loaded to the printer body, and an ink ribbon cassette detecting section 22 for detecting the type (L size, postcard size) of the loaded cassette exclusive for overcoat. When a decision is made that the loaded cassette is the cassette exclusive for overcoat based on a detection signal at the section 21 for detecting the cassette exclusive for overcoat, a print control section 25 performs print control exclusive for overcoat depending on the size judged based on a detection signal at the ink ribbon cassette detecting section 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal printer capable of printing a protective overcoat on a photograph printed by an inkjet printer or the like.

  Inkjet printers are currently widely used because they can quickly print visual information such as images. The ink jet method is a method of forming an image by ejecting ink droplets from nozzles of a recording head and attaching them to recording paper. Due to recent advances in inkjet recording technology, high-quality full-color images and the like can be obtained with image quality comparable to conventional silver chloride photography.

  For this reason, even in general households, for example, an image taken with a digital camera or the like is printed out using an ink jet printer and stored in an album. However, a printed matter produced by the ink jet method is water resistant. There was no problem, and preservation was a problem.

  Therefore, various proposals have been made to improve the water resistance and the like of printed matter produced by an ink jet printer (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Patent Document 1 describes a thermal transfer sheet cassette for overcoat processing (hereinafter simply referred to as “thermal transfer sheet cassette”) dedicated to an ink jet printer, and this thermal transfer sheet cassette is arranged on the downstream side of the recording head. The overcoat process is performed on the recording paper printed by the recording head. In this thermal transfer sheet cassette, an overcoat layer, which is a transfer target layer, is provided on one entire surface of a support having a width capable of covering a printed product.
JP 2003-285521 A

  However, in the above prior art, the thermal transfer sheet cassette is a thermal transfer sheet cassette dedicated to an ink jet printer, and has a problem that it cannot be used except when printing with an ink jet printer. Further, since the overcoat process is performed at the same time as printing, there is a problem in that only the overcoat process cannot be performed after printing.

  Further, the thermal transfer sheet cassette of the above prior art is provided with a transfer layer on the entire surface of a support having a width capable of covering the printed material. For the printed material, from the L size or the postcard size, A4 Since there are various sizes such as size and B4 size, the thermal transfer sheet needs to be adjusted to, for example, the B4 size so as to cover all of them. Therefore, when this thermal transfer sheet is used to overcoat an L-size print, the transferred layer portion that protrudes from the print is wound up as used without being transferred at all, which is useless. There was a problem of becoming.

  By the way, in the thermal printer that selectively develops the three primary colors according to the magnitude of the applied thermal energy, as shown in FIG. 10, the ink ribbon 100 is covered with yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and over. Each layer of the coat (OC) is sequentially formed through a black line 101 for detecting the printing start position of each color, and is conventionally used in general. In other words, thermal printers are conventionally configured to form an overcoat layer after the three primary colors are developed.

  The present invention was devised by paying attention to such a point. The purpose of the present invention is to easily apply an overcoat process to an image of a printed matter printed by an ink jet printer using an overcoat process function originally possessed by a thermal printer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal printer capable of performing the above.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the thermal printer of the present invention has an ink ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon is wound around a cassette loading portion formed in a printer main body, and the ink formed on the ink ribbon by the heat generated by the thermal head. In a thermal printer that performs printing by transferring a layer to thermal paper, an overcoat dedicated cassette wound with an overcoat ribbon is provided in the printer body, and the overcoat dedicated cassette is loaded in the cassette loading unit. And a print control for performing print control exclusively for overcoat when it is determined that the loaded cassette is the overcoat dedicated cassette based on the detection signal of the first detection means. Means.

  According to such a configuration, the print control means can determine whether or not overcoat printing is performed simply by loading the cassette, so that the user can perform only an operation such as pressing a start button without performing any particular operation. Overcoat printing can be started.

  In this case, a plurality of types of overcoat-dedicated cassettes are prepared according to the size of the thermal paper, and the printer main body is provided with second detection means for detecting the type of the overcoat-dedicated cassette. . The print control means may be configured to determine the type of the overcoat dedicated cassette loaded based on the detection signal of the second detection means. On the other hand, the thermal paper is prepared in a plurality of sizes, and a plurality of thermal paper trays are prepared according to these sizes, and the printer main body detects the type of the thermal paper tray to be mounted. It is set as the structure which provided 3 detection means.

  Then, the printing control means determines the type of the overcoat dedicated cassette and the type of the thermal paper tray that are attached based on the detection signal of the second detection means and the detection signal of the third detection means. It may be configured to determine whether or not and match, and if they do not match, a warning may be issued. In this case, as means for issuing a warning, for example, a lamp such as an LED may be provided in the printer main body and the lamp may be turned on. If a display panel is provided, an error message may be displayed on the display panel.

  With this configuration, if the thermal paper tray type (thermal paper size) is different from the overcoat cassette type (overcoat ribbon size), the user can be warned. It is possible to prevent a problem that the overcoat process is performed in the wrong state. That is, it is possible to prevent problems such that the overcoat layer is not printed (transferred) on the entire surface of the thermal paper, or the overcoat layer that is not transferred to the thermal paper is wound while remaining on the ribbon.

  The overcoat ribbon is provided with lines indicating print start positions at intervals corresponding to the length size of the corresponding thermal paper, and the printer main body is provided with fourth detection means for detecting the lines. Also good. The printing control means may be configured to perform overcoat printing while adjusting the printing start position of the overcoat based on the detection signal of the fourth detection means during the overcoat printing process. That is, such a printing process is the same as the process for printing the three primary colors on thermal paper using an ink ribbon on which layers of the three primary colors Y, M, and C are formed. Thus, by providing the line and adjusting the printing start position, the overcoat layer formed on the ribbon can be used without any excess, and the waste of the ribbon can be eliminated.

  According to the thermal printer of the present invention, since a weather-resistant overcoat can be applied to a printed matter printed by an ink jet printer or the like, a card greeting card to be kept can be stored carefully. In addition, since the first control unit can determine whether the overcoat printing is performed simply by loading the cassette, the user can perform only an operation such as pressing a start button without performing any particular operation. Overcoat printing can be started. In addition, if the type of thermal paper tray (thermal paper size) and the type of overcoat cassette (overcoat ribbon size) are different, the user can be warned, so the overcoat process can be performed with the wrong type. It is possible to prevent problems such as performing Furthermore, since overcoat printing can be performed while adjusting the print start position of the overcoat based on the detection signal of the fourth detection means during the overcoat printing process, the overcoat layer formed on the ribbon is left over. It can be used anywhere, and the waste of the ribbon can be eliminated.

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

  FIG. 1 is an external view of the thermal printer of this embodiment.

  The thermal printer 1 is a small home-use type mainly for printing photographs and the like. Although not shown, the thermal printer 1 includes a connection terminal for connecting an external device such as a digital camera.

  The printer body 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and a thermal paper tray 70 containing a plurality of sheets of thermal paper (printing paper) T of an arbitrary size is attached to and detached from the printer body 10 on the front side surface 11 thereof. A tray insertion opening 12 is provided for possible mounting. On the other hand, although not shown on the rear side surface 13 of the printer main body 10, the thermal paper is not interfered with the movement of the thermal paper T in the front-rear direction during printing at a position facing the tray insertion opening 12. A T paper feed opening is provided.

  Further, for example, on the right side 14 of the printer main body 10, either a normal ink ribbon cassette 30 or an overcoat dedicated cassette 50 for forming an image on the thermal paper T can be attached to and detached from the cassette loading portion of the printer main body 10. A cassette insertion port 15 for loading is provided.

  In the present embodiment, a print start button 16 a and a stop button 16 b are provided on the upper surface 16 of the printer body 10. The start button 16a and the stop button 16b are used when an overcoat process having weather resistance is applied to a printed matter printed by an inkjet printer or the like. Further, the upper surface 16 of the printer main body 10 is provided with a warning display unit 19 for issuing a warning when the type of cassette and tray described later are different. The warning display unit 19 may be, for example, an LED lamp or a display panel such as an LCD.

  The thermal printer 1 according to the present embodiment can print two types of thermal paper, for example, L size and postcard size, and the thermal paper tray 70 can be printed according to the type (size) of thermal paper T to be stored. Two types are available. However, the outer shape of the tray itself is the same, and the tray itself is shared by only the size of the thermal paper T stored.

  In addition, the normal ink ribbon cassette 30 includes a cassette containing an ink ribbon having a width corresponding to the L size width and a cassette containing an ink ribbon having a width corresponding to the postcard size width, depending on the type of the thermal paper T. Two types of cassettes are available. However, the outer shape of the cassette itself is the same regardless of the type of ribbon, and the cassette itself is shared.

  Furthermore, the overcoat-dedicated cassette 50 is also divided into two types according to the type of thermal paper T: a cassette containing a ribbon having a width corresponding to the L size width and a cassette containing a ribbon having a width corresponding to the postcard size width. Cassettes are available. However, the outer shape of the cassette itself is the same regardless of the type of ribbon, and the cassette itself is shared with the ink ribbon cassette 30.

  However, the types of thermal paper T that can be printed by the thermal printer 1 are not limited to two types, L size and postcard size, and thermal paper of other sizes can be printed. In this case, the thermal paper tray 70, the ink ribbon cassette 30 and the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 need only be prepared for that type, but here, in order to simplify the description, two types of L size and postcard size are used.

  FIG. 2 shows the structure of the overcoat dedicated cassette 50. However, since this structure is the same for the ink ribbon cassette 30, in the following description, the same reference numerals are also used for the ink ribbon cassette 30.

  That is, the overcoat-dedicated cassette 50 includes a first reel storage section 51 that rotatably stores and holds a first reel 57 around which a thermal transfer ribbon (overcoat ribbon) OP dedicated for overcoat formed in a tape shape is wound. The second reel storage portion 52 that rotatably stores and holds the second reel 58 that winds up the thermal transfer ribbon OP fed from the first reel 51 is provided on the opposite side portion of the frame 53 formed in a rectangular shape. By being formed integrally with each other, a structure is provided in which they are opposed to each other with a predetermined interval. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the thermal transfer ribbon OP is exclusively used for an overcoat in which an overcoat layer OC as a protective layer is formed on the entire surface of the flexible support OP1 formed in a tape shape. It has become a ribbon.

  In addition, the frame 53 includes an opening 54 that exposes the thermal transfer ribbon OP fed from the first reel 51 to the outside. Through the opening 54, the frame 53 is heated on the support OP1 by thermocompression bonding means described later. The overcoat layer OP2 is thermally transferred onto the image surface of the printed matter.

  Incidentally, in the ink ribbon cassette 30, the ink ribbon 100 shown in FIG. 10 is wound around the cassette having the above structure.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the print mechanism portion, and schematically shows a state in which the ink ribbon cassette 30 is inserted from the cassette insertion opening 15 of the printer main body 10 and loaded into the cassette loading portion in the printer main body 10. .

  That is, the thermal head 17 and the platen roller 18 are disposed between the first reel 51 and the second reel 52 of the ink ribbon cassette 30 and on the conveyance path of the thermal paper T drawn from the thermal paper tray 70 shown in FIG. Are provided so as to face each other. Note that a transport drive system for reciprocally transporting the thermal paper T and a reel drive system for driving the reel of the ink ribbon cassette 30 are not shown.

  The thermal printer 1 according to the present embodiment sequentially transfers the thermal paper T to develop and fix the three primary colors. Normally, the print control unit 25 (see FIG. 7) that processes the data of each primary color has the same color starting position for each primary color on the thermal paper T, and the thermal paper 17 that is transported with the thermal head 17 that is fixed. In accordance with the relative position, data processing is performed so as to apply required heat energy.

  In order to develop the three primary colors on the thermal paper T to be transported reciprocally from the request of the print control unit 25, at least two reciprocal transport operations, specifically, the loading direction (in FIG. 1 and FIG. The first primary color (Y) is developed in the direction of the mark X1), and the color development start position of the second primary color (M) is positioned in the turn-out direction (the direction of the arrow X2 in FIGS. 1 and 4). The second primary color (M) is developed in the first carry-in direction X1, the color development start position of the third primary color (C) is positioned in the return carry-out direction X2, and the third primary color (C ) Coloring operation is performed. Note that the fixing operation is not limited in the transport direction, and may be appropriately performed according to the coloring order. Thereafter, the transfer start position of the overcoat layer (OC) is positioned in the turn-back carry-out direction X2, and the overcoat layer (OC) is transferred (printed) in the fourth carry-in direction X1.

  In such a configuration, in this embodiment, as described above, two types of ink ribbon cassettes 30 for L size and postcard size are prepared, and the printer body 10 distinguishes between these two types of ink ribbon cassettes 30. An ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 (see FIG. 5) is provided.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, since the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 is also loaded from the cassette insertion port 15, the overprint dedicated cassette detection for detecting the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 is detected in the printer body 10. A section (first detection means) 21 (see FIG. 5) is provided. Two types of overcoat cassettes 50 for L size and postcard size are also prepared, and the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 is also used for the type discrimination. That is, the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 constitutes the second detection means described in the claims of the present invention.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the cassette body 10 as viewed from above, and the right side of the drawing is the cassette insertion slot 15. In this embodiment, the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 and the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 are formed by limit switches, and are the inner part of the cassette insertion port 15, and the ink ribbon cassette loaded from the cassette insertion port 15. 30 and the overcoat-dedicated cassette 50 are fixedly arranged so as to be juxtaposed at positions where the frame 53 portion on the back side abuts.

  On the other hand, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the frame 53 portion on the back side of the ink ribbon cassette 30 and the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 facing the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 and the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22. The frame 53a portion of the L size ink ribbon cassette 30a, (b) the frame 53b portion of the postcard size ink ribbon cassette 30b, (c) the frame 53a portion of the L size overcoat dedicated cassette 50a, ( d) shows the frame 53b portion of the postcoat size overcoat-dedicated cassette 50b.

  As shown in FIG. 5A, an opening 55a is provided at a position facing the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 in the frame 53a portion of the L size ink ribbon cassette 30a. 22 is not provided with an opening 55b (indicated by a broken line in the figure). Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, an opening 55a is provided at a position facing the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 in the frame 53b portion of the postcard size ink ribbon cassette 30b. An opening 55 b is also provided at a position facing the detection unit 22. Further, as shown in FIG. 6C, the frame 53a of the L-size overcoat dedicated cassette 50a is also opposed to the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 at a position facing the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21. Opening portions 55a and 55b (shown by broken lines in the figure) are not provided at the positions where they are to be placed. Further, as shown in FIG. 6D, the frame 53b of the postcoat size overcoat dedicated cassette 50b has an opening 55a (indicated by a broken line in the figure) at a position facing the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21. Is not provided, and an opening 55 b is provided at a position facing the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22.

  That is, with the arrangement structure of the opening as described above, for example, when the L-size ink ribbon cassette 30a is loaded (see FIG. 6A), the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 has the opening 55a. When the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 comes into contact with the frame 53a and is turned ON, and the postcard-sized ink ribbon cassette 30b is loaded (see FIG. 6B), the overcoat dedicated cassette is detected. When the part 21 enters the opening 55a and becomes OFF, and when the ink ribbon cassette detection part 22 enters the opening 55b and turns OFF, the L-size overcoat dedicated cassette 50a is loaded (see FIG. 6C). Is a result of the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 coming into contact with the frame 53a, and the ink is ON. As a result of the boncassette detection unit 22 coming into contact with the frame 53a portion, it becomes ON, and when a postcard size overcoat dedicated cassette 50b is loaded (see FIG. 6D), the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 is turned on. As a result of contact with the frame 53b portion, it is ON, and as a result of the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 entering the opening 55b, it is OFF.

  The combination of the ON / OFF of the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 and the ON / OFF of the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 makes it possible to distinguish between the ink ribbon cassette 30 and the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 and the type of each cassette (L size). , Postcard size) discrimination.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, since there are two types of thermal paper trays 70 for L size and postcard size, the printer main body 10 discriminates between these two types of thermal paper trays 70. The tray detector 23 (see FIG. 5) is provided.

  Similarly to the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 and the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22, the tray detection unit 23 can be formed by a limit switch, and an opening is not provided at a corresponding position of the thermal paper tray 70. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the thermal paper tray is for L size or thermal paper tray for postcard size. For example, the tray detection unit 23 may be turned on in the case of an L size thermal paper tray, and the tray detection unit 23 may be turned off in the case of a postcard size thermal paper tray.

  In this embodiment, the line detection unit 24 (see FIG. 5) for detecting the black line 101 (see FIG. 10) indicating the print start position of each color formed on the ink ribbon stored in the ink ribbon cassette 30. Is provided in the printer main body 10. The line detection unit 24 can use, for example, a reflection type photocoupler.

  FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the thermal printer 1 of the present embodiment.

The thermal printer 1 is centered on a print control unit 25 that controls the operation of the entire printer. The print control unit 25 includes an overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21, an ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22, a tray detection unit 23, and a line detection unit. Each output of the unit 24 is connected. Further, the output of the start button 16a and the output of the stop button 16b are connected, and a connection terminal 26 for connecting, for example, a digital camera which is an external device (not shown) is provided. The print control unit 25 drives and controls the print mechanism unit based on signals from these units, and performs normal printing operations and overcoat processing that is a feature of the present invention. The print control unit 25 is connected with a warning display unit 19 for issuing a warning when the cassette and the tray are of different types.

  Next, in the thermal printer 1 having the above-described configuration, a processing operation when a weather-resistant overcoat process is performed on a printed matter printed by an inkjet printer or the like will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. However, it is assumed that the printed matter printed by an inkjet printer or the like is mounted on the printer main body 10 in a state where the printed matter suitable for the size (L size or postcard size) is stored in the thermal paper tray 70.

  When the start button 16a is pressed in a state where a cassette is inserted from the cassette insertion port 15 and loaded in the cassette loading unit of the printer main body 10 (when it is determined Yes in step S1), the print control unit 25 First, based on detection signals from the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 and the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22, the type of the loaded cassette is determined.

  That is, first, it is determined whether the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 is ON or OFF (step S2). If the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 is OFF (if NO is determined in step S2), it is loaded. The determined cassette is determined to be the ink ribbon cassette 30, and the process proceeds to a normal printing process (step S3).

  On the other hand, if the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21 is ON (if determined Yes in step S2), it is next determined whether the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 is ON or OFF (step S4). As a result, when the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 is ON (when determined Yes in step S4), it is determined that the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 loaded is the L size overcoat dedicated cassette 50a. However, if the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22 is OFF (if determined No in step S4), it is determined to be a postcard-size overcoat dedicated cassette 50b (step S6).

  Next, the print control unit 25 determines whether the tray detection unit 23 is ON or OFF (step S7). As a result, when the tray detection unit 23 is ON (when determined to be Yes at step S7), it is determined that the mounted thermal paper tray 70 is a thermal paper tray for L size (step S8). If the tray detection unit 23 is OFF (if determined No in step S7), it is determined that the mounted thermal paper tray 70 is a postcard-sized thermal paper tray (step S9).

  Next, the print control unit 25 determines whether or not the type of the overcoat dedicated cassette 50 that is loaded matches the type of the thermal paper tray 70 that is loaded based on the determination results of step S4 and step S7. Is determined (step S10). As a result, if they match, the overcoat process is executed as it is (step S11). On the other hand, if the types do not match, the warning display unit 19 is driven to display an error (step S12). That is, when the warning display unit 19 is an LED lamp, the lamp is turned on, and when the warning display unit 19 is a liquid crystal panel, an error message is displayed.

  In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A, the overcoat ribbon (thermal transfer ribbon) OP has an overcoat layer OC as a protective layer on the entire surface of the flexible support OP1 formed in a tape shape. It is in a state that is only formed in a series. For this reason, when the overprint process is performed on the next print product after the overcoat process is completed for one print product, the overcoat ribbon OP is used so that the overcoat layer OC is reliably transferred to the next print product. It is necessary to carry out the overcoat treatment after paying out a little more. For this reason, the film is not transferred onto the printed material and is wound up as used with a part of the overcoat layer remaining on the support OP1. That is, there remains a problem that the overcoat layer OC remaining on the support OP1 is wasted. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, black lines 41 indicating the printing start positions are provided at intervals corresponding to the length size of the corresponding thermal paper T. The line 41 can be detected by using the line detection unit 24 originally attached to the printer main body 10. Thereby, the print control unit 25 can perform overcoat printing while adjusting the print start position of the overcoat based on the detection signal of the line detection unit 24 during the overcoat printing process. Thus, the overcoat layer OC formed on the substrate can be used without any excess, and the waste of the ribbon can be eliminated.

  In the above embodiment, the overcoat dedicated cassette detection unit 21, the ink ribbon cassette detection unit 22, and the tray detection unit 23 are configured by limit switches. However, these detection units are not limited to limit switches. For example, a reflective photocoupler or a transmissive photocoupler may be used.

1 is an external view of a thermal printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of a cassette only for overcoat. (A) is a top view of a thermal transfer ribbon (overcoat ribbon), (b) is a sectional view. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a printing mechanism part. It is the schematic cross-sectional view which looked at the cassette main body from the top. It is explanatory drawing which shows the frame part of the back | inner side of the ink ribbon cassette and overcoat exclusive cassette which oppose the overcoat exclusive cassette detection part and the detection part for ink ribbon cassettes. It is a functional block diagram which shows the electric constitution of the thermal printer of this embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing processing operations when a weather-resistant overcoat process is performed on a printed matter printed by an inkjet printer or the like in the thermal printer of the present embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other Example of an overcoat ribbon. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of an ink ribbon.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal printer 10 Printer main body 11 Front side surface 12 Tray insertion port 13 Rear side surface 14 Right side surface 15 Cassette insertion port 16 Upper surface 16a Start button 16b Stop button 19 Warning display part 21 Overcoat exclusive cassette detection part 22 Ink ribbon cassette detection part 23 Tray detection Unit 24 line detection unit 25 print control unit 26 connection terminal unit 30 ink ribbon cassette 50 overcoat dedicated cassette 51 first reel storage unit 52 second reel storage unit 53 frame 54 opening 55a, 55b opening OP thermal transfer ribbon (overcoat) ribbon)
OP1 Support OC Overcoat layer

Claims (5)

In a thermal printer that prints by loading an ink ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon is wound into a cassette loading portion formed in a printer main body, and transferring the ink layer formed on the ink ribbon to thermal paper by heat generation of a thermal head ,
A plurality of thermal papers are prepared, and a plurality of thermal paper trays containing thermal papers are prepared according to these sizes,
Multiple types of overcoat-dedicated cassettes with an overcoat ribbon wound around are prepared according to the thermal paper size, and the overcoat ribbon is printed at intervals according to the corresponding thermal paper length size. A line showing the starting position is provided,
In the printer body,
First detecting means for detecting that the overcoat-dedicated cassette is loaded in the cassette loading section;
Second detection means for detecting the type of the overcoat-dedicated cassette;
Third detection means for detecting the type of the thermal paper tray mounted on the printer body;
Fourth detection means for detecting the line provided on the overcoat ribbon;
When it is determined that the loaded cassette is the overcoat-dedicated cassette based on the detection signal of the first detection means, the overcoat-dedicated printing control is performed, and the fourth overcoat is printed during the overcoat printing process. Print control means for performing overcoat printing while adjusting the print start position of the overcoat based on the detection signal of the detection means,
The printing control means further includes the type of the overcoat dedicated cassette and the type of the thermal paper tray mounted based on the detection signal of the second detection means and the detection signal of the third detection means. A thermal printer characterized in that it is determined whether or not matches, and a warning is issued if they do not match. In a thermal printer that prints by loading an ink ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon is wound into a cassette loading portion formed in a printer main body, and transferring the ink layer formed on the ink ribbon to thermal paper by heat generation of a thermal head ,
An overcoat dedicated cassette with an overcoat ribbon wound around
A first detection means provided in the printer body for detecting that the overcoat-dedicated cassette is loaded in the cassette loading section;
A printing control means for performing printing control exclusively for overcoat when it is determined that the cassette loaded is based on the detection signal of the first detection means; Thermal printer.   A plurality of types of overcoat-dedicated cassettes are prepared according to the size of the thermal paper, and the printer main body is provided with second detection means for detecting the type of the overcoat-dedicated cassette, and the printing 3. The thermal printer according to claim 2, wherein the control means determines the type of the overcoat dedicated cassette loaded based on the detection signal of the second detection means.   A plurality of thermal papers are prepared in a plurality of sizes, and a plurality of thermal paper trays are prepared according to these sizes, and a third detection for detecting the type of the thermal paper trays to be mounted on the printer body. Means is provided, and the print control means is mounted on the type of overcoat dedicated cassette loaded based on the detection signal of the second detection means and the detection signal of the third detection means. 4. The thermal printer according to claim 3, wherein it is determined whether or not the type of the thermal paper tray matches, and if it does not match, a warning is issued. The overcoat ribbon is provided with a line indicating a print start position at intervals corresponding to the length size of the corresponding thermal paper, and the printer main body is provided with a fourth detection means for detecting the line. The print control means performs overcoat printing while adjusting the print start position of the overcoat based on the detection signal of the fourth detection means during overcoat printing processing. The thermal printer according to claim 3.