JP2007137592A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing device capable of preventing any unnecessary output caused by the status change by opening/closing a cover thereof. <P>SOLUTION: The printing device 1 for performing the printing on a rolled paper is capable of taking/putting the rolled paper out of/in a rolled paper accommodation space in a body while a cover is opened. The printing device 1 comprises a cover opening/closing detector 74 for detecting the opening/closing condition of the cover, a near end detector 76 for detecting a near end of the rolled paper in the rolled paper accommodation space, and a host interface 71 for outputting the status of the printing device 1 determined based on the output of at least the cover opening/closing detector 74 and the near end detector 76 to a host device 8 to be connected to the printing device 1. When the cover opening/closing detector 75 outputs the signal indicating the state that the cover is opened, the host interface 71 does not output the status of the printing device 1. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing on roll paper, and more particularly, to a printing apparatus that opens a lid and puts roll paper in and out of the printing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, there is a printing apparatus that stores roll paper inside a printing apparatus and performs printing on the roll paper. In this printing apparatus, a near-end detector that detects that the remaining amount of roll paper in the printing apparatus has become small is provided. The near-end detector causes a detector to protrude from the side surface with respect to the roll paper accommodation space. Then, this detector is brought into contact with the side surface of the roll paper, and when the remaining amount of the roll paper becomes small, the protruding amount increases, thereby detecting the near end.
JP-A-9-254474

  By the way, in a printing apparatus that accommodates roll paper inside, the cover is opened when the roll is taken in and out. When the cover is open, the roll paper may not be stored in the correct position depending on the remaining amount of the roll paper if the detector is left protruding. Therefore, when the cover is opened, such a problem does not occur if the detector is retracted from the roll paper storage space.

  However, this creates a new problem. This is because the above-mentioned near-end detector determines whether or not it is near-end based on the protruding amount of the detector, so that the near-end state is canceled when the cover is opened and the detector is retracted. Further, in many cases, the printing apparatus automatically notifies the host apparatus of the status change when the status of the printing apparatus is changed, including whether the printer is in the near-end state. Accordingly, when the cover is opened, the status change as described above is detected and notified to the host device.

  When the cover is open, the status regarding the near-end state does not make sense, but an unnecessary and not always correct status is notified to the host device when the cover is opened and closed. This may cause a malfunction of the host device.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to prevent unnecessary output accompanying a status change caused by opening and closing a cover of a printing apparatus.

  A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is a printing apparatus that includes a main body and a lid, and allows roll paper to be taken in and out of a roll paper storage space in the main body with the lid open. The printing apparatus includes an open / close detector that detects opening and closing of the lid, a near-end detector that detects a near end of the roll paper in the roll paper storage space, and at least outputs of the open / close detector and the near-end detector Communication means for outputting the status of the printing device determined based on the status to a host device connected to the printing device, and the open / close detector outputs a signal indicating a state in which the lid is open. When outputting, the communication means does not output the status of the printing apparatus.

  Thereby, it is possible to prevent unnecessary output accompanying the status change caused by opening / closing the cover of the printing apparatus from being performed on the host apparatus.

In a preferred embodiment, the near-end detector projects into the roll paper accommodation space when the lid is closed, and retreats from the roll paper accommodation space when the lid is open. Is to be saved to the evacuation area of
The near-end detector abuts against the roll paper when the remaining amount of the roll paper stored in the roll paper storage space is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, and the amount of protrusion is suppressed. When the amount is less than or equal to the fixed amount, the near end may be detected by increasing the protruding amount.

  In a preferred embodiment, the lid body may be provided on a front surface or a side surface of the printing apparatus.

  In a preferred embodiment, the printer may further include an output device provided on the surface of the main body or the lid, and a control unit that controls the output device based on a status of the printing device. Then, when it is detected that the lid is opened based on the output of the open / close detector, the control means may hold the state of the output device at that time.

  Thereby, it is possible to prevent an unnecessary output change from being performed on the output device provided to inform the user of the state of the printing device.

  Hereinafter, a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The printing apparatus 1 includes a casing including a main body 110 and a cover 120 provided on the front side. A printing mechanism and the like are accommodated in the casing, and a space for accommodating roll paper as a printing medium is provided. ing.

  The cover 120 is provided with a cover open button 121 and a panel 122 for user interface. When the cover open button 121 is pressed, the upper part of the cover 120 is opened so that the upper part is tilted forward (that is, in the direction of arrow A) with the lower part of the cover 120 as the center. The panel 122 is provided with an LED (PAPER OUT LED) 123 that is turned on when the roll paper runs out and when the roll paper remaining amount is in a near-end state. Details of lighting and extinguishing of the LED 123 will be described later.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the internal frame 10 with the casing of the printing apparatus 1 removed.

  The frame 10 inside the printing apparatus 1 includes a metal main body frame 11 and a cover frame 12 of a cover 120 portion. The cover frame 12 opens and closes together with the cover 120.

  As described later, the open / closed states of the cover 120 and the cover frame 12 are detected by a cover open / close detector.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the frame 10 of the printing apparatus 1 with the cover frame 12 open. Inside the main body frame 11, a roll paper accommodation space 20 for accommodating roll paper is formed. By opening the cover frame 12 (and the cover 120), the roll paper accommodation space 20 is exposed to the front side of the printing apparatus 1. The roll paper is taken in and out of the roll paper storage space 20 from above.

  Whether or not roll paper is set in the roll paper storage space 20 is detected by a real end detector as will be described later.

  4 is a right side view of the frame 10 with the cover frame 12 closed, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line RR-RR at this time.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when the cover frame 12 is closed, a detector 21 of a roll paper near-end detector projects from the side of the lower part of the roll paper accommodation space 20. Here, as can be seen with reference to FIG. 3, the near-end detector 21 does not protrude into the roll paper accommodation space 20 when the cover frame 12 is opened. That is, when the cover frame 12 is open, the near-end detector 21 is retracted to a predetermined retreat area.

  This is because if the near-end detector 21 is left protruding in the roll paper storage space 20, when the roll paper is set, the protruding detector 21 is pushed out (the detector 21 is retracted). Roll paper is set at a fixed position. However, there is a case where the roll 21 protrudes from the upper side without pushing the protruding detector 21 and is not necessarily set at a fixed position. This is particularly problematic when the remaining amount of roll paper is low. Therefore, in this embodiment, the near-end detector 21 is retracted when the cover 120 is open.

  6 to 8 are EE-EE cross-sectional views in which the vicinity of the near-end detector 21 is enlarged.

  FIG. 6 shows the state of the near-end detector 21 when no roll paper is stored in the roll paper storage space 20 and when the remaining amount of roll paper becomes small and becomes a predetermined amount or less. That is, at this time, the amount of protrusion that the near-end detector 21 protrudes into the roll paper accommodation space 20 is maximized.

  FIG. 7 shows a state where the roll paper 5 having a remaining amount equal to or larger than a predetermined amount is stored in the roll paper storage space 20. That is, as shown in the figure, the near-end detector 21 is in a state in which the tip B is in contact with the roll paper 5 and the protruding amount is suppressed.

  FIG. 8 shows the position of the near-end detector 21 when the cover frame 12 is open. That is, at this time, the near-end detector 21 is retracted from the roll paper accommodation space 20 as described above, and is completely retracted from the roll paper accommodation space 20 regardless of the presence or absence of the roll paper 5.

  For details of the configuration and operation of the near-end detector, refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-254474.

  Next, status management of the printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of the printing apparatus 1.

  The printing apparatus 1 includes a host interface 71, a status management unit 72, an LED 123, a cover open / close detector 74, a real end detector 75, a near end detector 76, a printing mechanism control unit 77, and a printing mechanism 78. Is provided.

  The host interface 71 transmits / receives data to / from the host device 8.

  The LED 123 is turned on and off in accordance with an instruction from the status management unit 72.

  The cover opening / closing detector 74 detects opening / closing of the cover 120 and notifies the status management unit 72 of a signal indicating the opening / closing state of the cover 120.

  The real end detector 75 detects the presence or absence of roll paper stored in the roll paper storage space 20 and notifies the status management unit 72 of the presence or absence. For example, if the roll paper is set in the roll paper storage space 20, the real end detector 75 notifies the status management unit 72 of a signal indicating that there is roll paper. On the other hand, when roll paper is not set in the roll paper storage space 20 in the first place, and when the remaining amount of roll paper set in the roll paper storage space 20 is exhausted, a signal indicating that there is no roll paper is sent to the status management unit. 72 is notified.

  As described above, the near-end detector 76 determines whether or not the remaining amount of roll paper stored in the roll paper storage space 20 is equal to or less than the processing fixed amount. Then, a signal indicating whether the remaining amount of roll paper is equal to or less than a predetermined amount is output.

  Based on the printing data from the printing mechanism control unit 77 and the host device 8, the printing mechanism 78 is controlled to execute printing.

  The printing mechanism 78 includes a print head, a paper feed mechanism, and the like (not shown), and executes printing according to instructions from the printing mechanism control unit 77.

  The status management unit 72 manages the status of the printing apparatus 1 and performs control according to the status. For example, the status management unit 72 determines the status of the printing apparatus 1 based on at least signals from the cover open / close detector 74, the real end detector 75, and the near end detector 76. Then, the status management unit 72 controls lighting and extinguishing of the LEDs 73 based on the determined status. Further, the status management unit 72 notifies the host apparatus 8 of the status of the printing apparatus 1 via the host interface 71. The status notification to the host device 8 is performed, for example, when the status management unit 72 detects a status change.

  In particular, in the present embodiment, the status management unit 72 manages the status as follows. That is, when it is detected that the cover 120 is open based on the signal from the cover open / close detector 74, the status is not changed based on the signals from the real end detector 75 and the near end detector 76. . Therefore, when the cover 120 is open, the status is not notified to the host device 8. Furthermore, the lighting state of the LED 123 does not change. That is, while the cover 120 is open, the outputs of the real end detector 75 and the near end detector 76 are ignored.

  This is because printing is not performed when the cover 120 is open, and therefore it is not necessary to strictly manage roll paper. For example, if roll paper is inserted into or extracted from the roll paper storage space 20 while the cover 120 is open, the output of the real-end detector 75 changes accordingly, but it is not necessary to strictly grasp this.

  Furthermore, as already described, when the cover frame 12 is opened, the detector 21 of the near-end detector 76 that has protruded into the roll paper accommodation space 20 is retracted to the retreat area. As a result, the output of the near-end detector 76 may change from a signal indicating the near end to a signal indicating a state in which the near end is released, but this need not be strictly grasped as well.

  The above-described embodiments of the present invention are examples for explaining the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those embodiments. Those skilled in the art can implement the present invention in various other modes without departing from the gist of the present invention.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the cover is provided on the front surface of the printing apparatus, but may be provided on a side surface.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a printing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a perspective view showing a frame 10 of the printing apparatus 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the frame 10 of the printing apparatus 1 with a cover frame 12 opened. It is a right view in the state where cover frame 12 was closed. It is RR-RR sectional drawing in the state where cover frame 12 was closed. It is the figure which expanded the near end detector 21 vicinity. It is the figure which expanded the near end detector 21 vicinity. It is the figure which expanded the near end detector 21 vicinity. 2 is a functional block diagram of the printing apparatus 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printing apparatus, 11 ... Main body frame, 12 ... Cover frame, 20 ... Roll paper accommodation space, 21 ... Near end detector, 71 ... Host interface, 72 ... Status management part, 74 ... Cover open / close detector, 75 ... Real end Detector 76 ... Near-end detector.

Claims (5)

A printing apparatus for printing on roll paper, comprising a main body and a lid, and enabling roll paper to be taken in and out of a roll paper storage space in the main body with the lid open.
An open / close detector for detecting opening / closing of the lid;
A near-end detector for detecting the near-end of the roll paper in the roll paper storage space;
Communication means for outputting a status of the printing apparatus determined based on outputs of at least the open / close detector and the near-end detector to a host device connected to the printing apparatus,
The printing apparatus, wherein the communication means does not output the status of the printing apparatus when the open / close detector outputs a signal indicating that the lid is open. The near-end detector protrudes into the roll paper storage space when the lid is closed, and retracts from the roll paper storage space to a predetermined saving area when the lid is open. Is,
The near-end detector abuts against the roll paper when the remaining amount of the roll paper stored in the roll paper storage space is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, and the amount of protrusion is suppressed. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein near end is detected by increasing the amount of protrusion when the amount is below a fixed amount.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lid is provided on a front surface or a side surface of the printing apparatus. An output device provided on the main body or the lid surface;
Control means for controlling the output device based on the status of the printing device,
4. The control device according to claim 1, wherein when the opening of the lid is detected based on an output of the open / close detector, the control unit holds the state of the output device at that time. The printing apparatus in any one. In a printing apparatus for printing on roll paper, comprising a main body and a lid, and enabling the roll paper to be taken in and out of the roll paper storage space in the main body with the lid open.
An open / close detector that detects opening / closing of the lid, a process of outputting a signal corresponding to the opening / closing of the lid;
A process for outputting a predetermined signal when the near end detector for detecting the near end of the roll paper in the accommodation space for the roll paper detects the near end of the roll paper;
When the open / close detector is outputting a signal indicating that the lid is closed, at least the status of the printing apparatus determined based on the outputs of the open / close detector and the near-end detector, Output to the host device connected to the printing device,
A status output method for a printing apparatus, wherein when the open / close detector outputs a signal indicating a state in which the lid is open, a process for not outputting the status of the printing apparatus is performed.

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