JP2009073632A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of selectively collecting a defective medium and a dead medium. <P>SOLUTION: This printer comprises an eliminating mechanism 601 for eliminating a medium 111, which is determined abnormal, from a medium path 106 and a sorting mechanism 701 for sorting destination of the mediums 111 eliminated by the eliminating mechanism 601 to a dead medium collecting position (a dead medium collecting case 141) and a defective medium collecting position (a defective medium collecting case 161). In the case wherein the medium 111 is determined abnormal based on a communication failure of an IC tag, a driving source of the sorting mechanism 701 is controlled to sort destination of the medium 111 to the defective medium collecting position, and in the case wherein the medium 111 is determined abnormal based on the number of printing frequency read from the IC tag reaches the limit of frequency, the driving source of the sorting mechanism 701 is controlled to sort destination of the medium 111 to the dead medium collecting position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer that performs writing and printing of RFID data on a medium that has an IC tag and can be printed and erased by heat.

  Conventionally, a so-called rewritable medium using a color reversible thermosensitive recording material capable of repeating color development and decoloration by heat has been put into practical use. As an example of the color developing type reversible thermosensitive recording material, there is a leuco dye type material utilizing a chemical reaction between a leuco dye and a reversible developer. Then, a printer is developed that erases the image by applying heat to the rewritable medium on which the image is formed and gradually cools it, and prints the rewritable medium after erasing the image based on the print data using, for example, a thermal print head. Has been.

  Conventionally, there is known an RFID tag (RFID rewritable medium) in which an IC tag capable of storing data in a rewritable manner is embedded in such a rewritable medium. Data can be written to and read from such an RFID rewritable medium by non-contact communication. Therefore, there is known a printer provided with a printer antenna for performing non-contact communication so that data can be written to the RFID rewritable medium together with image formation.

JP 2006-150765 A

  RFID rewritable media may have to be collected from the printer before RFID data is written and printed.

  One is a case where the number of times of printing and erasing has reached the limit. The RFID rewritable medium is limited in the number of times it can be used because the coloring or decoloring characteristics of the coloring type reversible thermosensitive recording material deteriorate each time printing and erasing are repeated. That is, the RFID rewritable medium (life medium) whose number of uses has reached the limit is a target for disposal because an erasure defect or a print defect occurs and a good print result cannot be obtained. Patent Document 1 describes a technique in which the number of times of printing or erasing is written in an IC tag, and when the number of times has reached the limit, the medium is discharged separately from normal. According to this, the life medium can be collected from the printer before printing or the like.

  The other is a case where a writing failure has occurred in the built-in IC tag. The writing failure does not occur due to its use, but has already occurred at the time of purchase from the manufacturer and sales maker, and is a return object.

  Therefore, although the RFID rewritable medium is “lifetime” and “bad”, both are not suitable for use in a printer and should be collected, but handling after collection is greatly different. In other words, while the life medium should be discarded, the defective medium can be returned to the manufacturer for replacement and replaced with a normal product. Therefore, it is desired that the life medium and the defective medium can be collected separately. In the technique described in Patent Document 1, the life medium is discharged to an abnormal paper discharge unit from which a defective medium is discharged, and the two cannot be separated.

  An object of the present invention is to enable the RFID rewritable medium to be separately collected depending on whether the RFID rewritable medium has a lifetime or not.

  The printer of the present invention has an IC tag that stores data in a rewritable manner and guides a medium that can be printed and erased by heat along the conveyance direction, and is disposed in the medium path. A printing unit that performs thermal printing on the medium, and writing of data including the number of times of printing of the medium via an antenna disposed in the medium path on the upstream side of the printing unit in the conveyance direction of the medium; A communication unit that performs communication with the IC tag to perform reading and determines an abnormality of the medium based on the communication result, and is arranged between the printing unit and the antenna, and has an abnormality based on the communication result. Exclusion mechanism that excludes the determined medium from the medium path, and a distribution mechanism that distributes the destination of the medium excluded by the exclusion mechanism into a life recovery position and a failure recovery position And when the medium is determined to be abnormal due to communication failure of the IC tag based on the communication result, the drive source of the sorting mechanism is controlled to remove the medium removed by the exclusion mechanism When the destination is assigned to the defective collection position and the medium is read from the IC tag based on the communication result and the number of times of printing reaches the limit number, it is determined that there is an abnormality. The drive source of the mechanism is controlled so that the destination of the medium removed by the exclusion mechanism is distributed to the lifetime collection position.

  According to the present invention, the life medium is removed from the medium path by the removal mechanism and then distributed to the life collection position by the distribution mechanism, and the defective medium is removed by the distribution mechanism after being removed from the medium path by the removal mechanism. It is distributed to. Therefore, the defective medium and the life medium can be separated and collected.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment is an example applied to the printer 101 that sequentially performs an erasing operation, a data writing operation, and a printing operation on the RFID rewritable medium 111 having the IC tag 112.

  FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of the printer 101. The printer 101 according to the present embodiment is configured by housing each part in a rectangular parallelepiped housing 102. In the rear part (right side in FIG. 1) of the housing 102, a medium storage unit 201 and an erasing unit 301 are stored. A printing unit 401 is accommodated in a front portion (left side in FIG. 1) of the housing 102. A medium issuing port 103 is formed on the front surface of the housing 102. A discharge port 110 is formed on the front side of the housing 102 and below the medium issuing port 103. Furthermore, a display unit 104 and an operation unit 105 are arranged on the front surface of the housing 102 (see FIG. 4 for both). The display unit 104 is a horizontally long liquid crystal display device, and can display information of several lines.

  The rear part of the housing 102 that stores the medium storage unit 201 and the erasing unit 301 and the front part of the housing 102 that stores the printing unit 401 may be configured to be separable.

  Inside the printer 101, a medium passage 106 for guiding the RFID rewritable medium 111 is formed. The medium path 106 communicates the medium storage unit 201 and the medium issuing port 103, and an erasing unit 301 and a printing unit 401 are respectively arranged in the middle. The arrangement position of the erasing unit 301 is the upstream side, and the arrangement position of the printing unit 401 is the downstream side.

  The medium storage unit 201 is mainly configured by a lifter 202 as a medium holding unit provided so as to be movable up and down. The lifter 202 can place and support a plurality of RFID rewritable media 111 in a stacked state. The lifter 202 is driven up and down by a lifter driving unit 203 (see FIG. 4) made of an actuator.

  The medium storage unit 201 is provided with a supply mechanism 204 as a feeding unit that feeds the uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 placed on the lifter 202 to the medium path 106. The supply mechanism 204 is mainly composed of a pickup roller 205 and a reverse separation mechanism 206. The pickup roller 205 applies a feeding force to the uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 placed on the lifter 202 by its rotation. The separation mechanism 206 separates the lower RFID rewritable medium 111 that is double-fed by the rotation of the pickup roller 205 so that only the uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 is fed to the medium path 106. Such medium separation is performed by rotation in the direction opposite to the feeding direction of the reverse roller 207 included in the separation mechanism 206. However, as the separation mechanism 206, other methods such as a separation claw method and a gate method may be adopted. The pickup roller 205 and the reverse roller 207 are driven to rotate by a feeding / conveying unit 208 (see FIG. 4) made of an actuator.

  The erasing unit 301 is mainly configured by a heat roller 302 and a press roller 303 that are disposed to face each other with the medium passage 106 therebetween. The heat roller 302 is disposed above the medium path 106, and the press roller 303 is disposed below the medium path 106. The heat roller 302 includes a heater 304 (see FIG. 4) that generates heat when energized, and can heat the RFID rewritable medium 111 conveyed through the medium path 106. The press roller 303 is urged by the heat roller 302 via the medium passage 106.

  The printing unit 401 is mainly configured by a line-type thermal print head 402 and a platen 403 that are disposed to face each other with the medium passage 106 therebetween. Such an arrangement position of the printing unit 401 is in the vicinity of the medium issuing port 103.

  The printer 101 includes a transport unit 107 for transporting the RFID rewritable medium 111 fed to the medium path 106 by the supply mechanism 204. The transport unit 107 is mainly configured of a first transport roller pair 108 a, a second transport roller pair 108 b, and a third transport roller pair 108 c that are provided in three pairs along the medium path 106. Hereinafter, these may be collectively referred to as a conveyance roller pair 108. The pair of conveying rollers 108 are disposed to face each other via the medium passage 106, and one roller member is biased by the other roller member. Then, the other roller member is driven and rotated by a feeding / conveying section 208 (see FIG. 4) made of an actuator, and the one roller member rotates following this.

  The medium passage 106 will be described in more detail. The medium passage 106 is configured by opposing plate-shaped guide members 109 forming a pair of structures. Both of these guide members 109 are formed of a plate-like sheet metal, and form a medium passage 106 on the surfaces facing each other. However, the pair of guide members 109 brings the respective portions into contact with the medium passage 106 at the positions where the heat roller 302 and press roller 303 constituting the erasing unit 301 and the conveyance roller pair 108 constituting the conveyance unit 107 are arranged. Trying to get.

  In addition, the guide member 109 is not a simple plate-shaped portion between the second conveyance roller pair 108b and the third conveyance roller pair 108c, and a part of the guide member 109 transmits the RFID rewritable medium 111 to the medium passage 106. An exclusion mechanism 601 is configured to be excluded from the above. Details of the exclusion mechanism 601 will be described later (see FIG. 3). A distribution mechanism 701 that distributes the destination of the RFID rewritable medium 111 that is excluded from the medium path 106 by the exclusion mechanism 601 is provided below the exclusion mechanism 601. Details of the distribution mechanism 701 will also be described later (see FIG. 3).

  The printer 101 has a printer antenna 152 capable of contactless communication with the IC tag 112 of the RFID rewritable medium 111. The printer antenna 152 is disposed between the erasing unit 301 and the printing unit 401, and more specifically, is located upstream of the printing unit 401 in the conveyance direction of the RFID rewritable medium 111. The arrangement position is between the first first transport roller pair 108a and the second second transport roller pair 108b from the upstream side of the medium path 106 among the three pairs of transport roller pairs 108 arranged. Position.

  Further, as sensors, an environmental temperature sensor 151, a supply sensor 153, and a medium registration sensor 154 are shown in FIG. The environmental temperature sensor 151 is disposed on the side wall of the medium storage unit 201. The environmental temperature sensor 151 is a temperature sensor. The supply sensor 153 is positioned immediately after the separation mechanism 206 in the medium passage 106 and is disposed on the downstream side thereof. The medium registration sensor 154 is located in the medium path 106 immediately before the printing unit 401 and is disposed upstream thereof. Both the supply sensor 153 and the medium registration sensor 154 are transmissive optical sensors.

  A life recovery case 141 for recovering the RFID rewritable medium 111 whose number of uses has reached a limit is disposed inside the housing 102 and below the exclusion mechanism 601 and the distribution mechanism 701. Therefore, the life collection case 141 has a size and shape that can accommodate the RFID rewritable medium 111 in layers. In addition, a defect collection case 161 for collecting the RFID rewritable medium 111 in which the writing failure of the built-in IC tag 112 has occurred is disposed at a position facing the front of the printer 101. The defect collection case 161 has a size and shape that can accommodate the RFID rewritable medium 111 in layers. Further, the defective collection case 161 is disposed adjacent to the housing 102 at a position where the case height is lower than the discharge port 110.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the RFID rewritable medium 111. The RFID rewritable medium 111 of this embodiment is a sheet-like medium made of white PET film. Further, by using a leuco dye-type color reversible thermosensitive recording material, it is possible to repeat color development and decoloration by heat. Therefore, it is possible to erase the image in the erasing unit 301 and form the image in the printing unit 401 with respect to the RFID rewritable medium 111.

  An IC tag 112 indicated by a broken line in FIG. 2 is embedded in the RFID rewritable medium 111. The IC tag 112 includes an IC chip 113 and a tag antenna 114 connected to the IC chip 113. The IC tag 112 is a passive type that does not incorporate a battery by itself. In the present embodiment, the IC tag 112 is supplied with power by an electromagnetic induction method using a UHF band or a 13.56 MHz frequency band as an example. In other words, in the IC tag 112, the embedded tag antenna 114 receives the magnetic field from the printer antenna 152 (see FIG. 1), generates electric power, and the IC chip 113 is activated. The IC tag 112 activated by the IC chip 113 can wirelessly communicate with the printer antenna 152. Therefore, data can be written to and read from the IC tag 112 of the RFID rewritable medium 111 via the printer antenna 152.

  FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the exclusion mechanism 601 and the distribution mechanism 701. The other parts of the printer 101 are not shown.

  First, the exclusion mechanism 601 will be described. An exclusion mechanism 601 is provided between the second conveying roller pair 108b and the third conveying roller pair 108c in the conveying roller pair 108. The exclusion mechanism 601 includes a displacement member 109a that is displaceable about a displacement member rotation shaft 602. The displacement member 109a is freely displaceable between a “normal state” parallel to the other lower guide member 109 shown by a solid line in FIG. 3 and an “excluded state” of an inclined state shown by a broken line in FIG. It has become. At the position of the displacement member 109a on the second conveyance roller pair 108b side, an inclined member 109b that is inclined obliquely downward toward the medium conveyance direction is disposed. In addition, a parallel member 109c having a portion parallel to the other lower guide member 109 is disposed at a position on the third conveying roller pair 108c side of the displacement member 109a. The inclined member 109b and the parallel member 109c are disposed at positions where they do not come into contact with the displacement member 109a due to the displacement of the displacement member 109a. Then, when the displacement member 109a is displaced from the “normal state” to the “exclusion state” (or the displacement from the “exclusion state” to the “normal state”), the second position of the displacement member 109a is located above the displacement member 109a. A fan-shaped member 109d having a fan-shaped curved portion is disposed so as not to come into contact with the end on the side of the conveying roller pair 108b. An exclusion conveyance roller pair 603 of the same type as the conveyance roller pair 108 is disposed on the end side in the inclination direction of the inclined member 109b.

  In a state where the displacement member 109a is positioned in the “normal state” indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3, the RFID rewritable medium 111 sent out by the second conveying roller pair 108b is guided on the surface 109aa of the displacement member 109a, and the fan-shaped member 109d. And the parallel member 109c are guided to the third conveying roller pair 108c.

  In the state where the displacement member 109a is positioned in the “normal state” indicated by the broken line in FIG. 3, the RFID rewritable medium 111 sent out by the second conveying roller pair 108b contacts the back surface 109ab of the displacement member 109a and is on the inclined member 109b. Is guided to the exclusion conveying roller pair 603.

  Next, the distribution mechanism 701 will be described. The distribution mechanism 701 is provided at the tip of the conveyance direction by the exclusion conveyance roller pair 603. The distribution mechanism 701 includes a plate-shaped distribution member 702 that is displaceable about a distribution member rotation shaft 703 provided on one end side thereof. The distribution member 702 is freely displaceable between a “defective distribution state” indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3 and a “life distribution state” indicated by a broken line in FIG. The “defective distribution state” is a position where the free end of the distribution member 702 faces the exclusion conveyance roller pair 603. The “life distribution state” is a position where the distribution member 702 stands up from the “defective distribution state” and the free end moves to the third conveying roller pair 108c side. An obliquely inclined plate-shaped guide member 704 is disposed at a position where it is connected to the end of the distribution member 702 on the distribution member rotation shaft 703 side. The guide member 704 communicates with the discharge port 110 formed on the front surface of the housing 102 and below the medium issuing port 103.

  In a state where the sorting member 702 is positioned in the “defective sorting state” indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3, the RFID rewritable medium 111 sent out by the exclusion conveying roller pair 603 is guided on the surface 702a of the sorting member 702, It is guided on the guide member 704 and discharged from the discharge port 110. The RFID rewritable medium 111 discharged from the discharge port 110 is accommodated in the defective collection case 161.

  In a state where the sorting member 702 is positioned in the “life sorting state” indicated by a broken line in FIG. 3, the RFID rewritable medium 111 sent out by the pair of exclusion conveying rollers 603 contacts the back surface 702b of the sorting member 702 and is discharged. Guidance to the exit 110 side is avoided. Then, the RFID rewritable medium 111 falls by its own weight when the delivery by the pair of exclusion conveying rollers 603 is completed. A life recovery case 141 is disposed in the housing 102 in the direction in which the RFID rewritable medium 111 falls. Therefore, the RFID rewritable medium 111 is accommodated in the life collection case 141 after dropping its own weight.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the printer 101. The printer 101 has an information processing unit 501 as hardware resources for executing information processing. The information processing unit 501 also functions as a communication unit, and the SRAM 503, the flash ROM 504, and the EEPROM 505 are connected via the bus line 506 to the CPU 502 that executes various arithmetic processes and centrally controls each unit. It is configured. The SRAM 503 stores variable data such as temporary storage data so that it can be rewritten, and is used as a work area. The flash ROM 504 stores various setting values and various tables in a rewritable manner, and can store the stored contents without power supply. The EEPROM 505 stores a control program or the like in a rewritable manner and can hold the stored contents without power feeding.

  The flash ROM 504 holds a limit number referred to in an issue process (see FIG. 5) described later. This limited number of times is the number of times that the RFID rewritable medium 111 can be printed and erased to such an extent that the printing result can withstand practical use. An arbitrary value can be input as the limit number by a predetermined operation on the operation unit 105.

  As hardware resources controlled by the information processing unit 501 or used for such control, each unit such as the erasing unit 301 and the printing unit 401 is connected to the information processing unit 501. More specifically, the display unit 104, the operation unit 105, the lifter driving unit 203 serving as a driving source for the lifter 202, the supply mechanism 204, the conveying unit 107 (conveying roller pair 108), and the driving source for the exclusion conveying roller pair 603. The feeding / conveying unit 208 is connected to the information processing unit 501 via the bus line 506. In addition, a heater controller 305 that controls a heater 304 constituting the erasing unit 301 is provided, and the heater controller 305 is connected to the information processing unit 501 via a bus line 506. In addition, a head control circuit 404 that controls the thermal print head 402 constituting the printing unit 401 is provided, and this head control circuit 404 is connected to the information processing unit 501 via the bus line 506. Further, a sensor input circuit 158 that captures signals from the sensors is provided, and the sensor input circuit 158 is also connected to the information processing unit 501 via the bus line 506. As these sensors, a heater temperature sensor 159 and a head temperature sensor 160 are provided in addition to the environmental temperature sensor 151, the supply sensor 153, and the medium registration sensor 154 described above. The heater temperature sensor 159 is built in the heat roller 302 so as to be positioned in the vicinity of the heater 304 constituting the erasing unit 301. The head temperature sensor 160 is mounted on the thermal print head 402 constituting the printing unit 401.

  In addition to the antenna control circuit 508 that controls the printer antenna 152, the information processing unit 501 rotates the displacement member rotation shaft 602 to displace the displacement member 109a between the “normal state” and the “excluded state”. The distribution mechanism drive unit 509 and the distribution mechanism drive unit 510 that rotates the distribution member rotation shaft 703 to displace the distribution member 702 between the “defective distribution state” and the “life distribution state” are buses. Connected via line 506.

  In addition, a communication interface 507 for realizing communication between the printer 101 and an external device is connected to the information processing unit 501 via a bus line 506. The printer 101 receives print data, RFID data, and an issue command from an external device via the communication interface 507. Here, the RFID data is data having the same information as the information printed based on the print data.

  In such a configuration, when print data and RFID data accompanied by an issuance command are received from an external device via the communication interface 507, the CPU 502 drives and controls each unit while referring to the output signals of the sensors. The issuing process described below based on the data is executed.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of issue processing executed by the printer 101. First, the CPU 502 controls the lifter driving unit 203 to raise the lifter 202 until the uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 comes into contact with the pickup roller 205, and then controls the feeding / conveying unit 208 to pick up the pickup roller 205 and the reverse roller. The uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 is separated and fed to the medium passage 106 by rotating the 207. The uppermost RFID rewritable medium 111 separated and fed to the medium path 106 is conveyed through the medium path 106 by a conveying roller pair 108 that rotates under the control of the feeding and conveying unit 208. Next, the CPU 502 gives a drive signal to the heater controller 305 at an appropriate timing to cause the heater controller 305 to drive the heater 304 to generate heat. As a result, the surface on the image forming side of the RFID rewritable medium 111 passing through the erasing unit 301 is heated by the heat roller 302, and the image formed on the RFID rewritable medium 111 is erased by slow cooling after passing through the erasing unit 301. Is done.

  The CPU 502 controls the antenna control circuit 508 at the timing when the IC tag 112 of the RFID rewritable medium 111 being conveyed by the conveying unit 107 faces the printer antenna 152, and communicates with the IC tag 112 to the printer antenna 152. It is executed (step S101). In addition, after the conveyance of the RFID rewritable medium 111 is stopped at a position where the IC tag 112 and the printer antenna 152 face each other, the antenna control circuit 508 may be controlled to execute communication. In addition, after the RFID tag rewritable medium 111 is transported to a position where the built-in IC tag 112 is located downstream of the printer antenna 152, the RFID tag rewritable medium 111 is back-feeded to the transport unit 107, and the IC tag 112 and the printer The RFID rewritable medium 111 may be positioned at a position facing the antenna 152.

  At this time, when communication with the IC tag 112 is not established due to, for example, breakage of the IC chip 113 (N in step S102), the CPU 502 determines that the RFID rewritable medium 111 is a defective medium. Exclusion control (step S107) and defective distribution control (step S108) are executed. In the exclusion control in step S107, the exclusion mechanism driving unit 509 is controlled to drive the displacement member rotating shaft 602 to displace the displacement member 109a to the “exclusion state”, and the feeding / conveying unit 208 is controlled to exclude the exclusion conveyance roller pair. This is a process for starting the rotation of 603. The defective distribution control in step S108 is a process of controlling the distribution mechanism driving unit 510 to drive the distribution member rotating shaft 703 and displacing the distribution member 702 to the “defective distribution state”. By executing the exclusion control and the defective distribution control, the RFID rewritable medium 111 is discharged from the discharge port 110 and stored in the defective collection case 161.

On the other hand, when communication between the printer antenna 152 and the IC tag 112 is established (Y in step S102), the CPU 502 determines that the RFID rewritable medium 111 is not a defective medium, and “displaces the displacement member 109a. Do not displace to "state". That is, since the CPU 502 has displaced the displacement member 109a to the “normal state” from the beginning, the displacement member 109a maintains the “normal state”.
Then, the CPU 502 reads the number of times of printing stored in the IC chip 113 of the IC tag 112 with which communication has been established (step S103), and the number of times of printing that has been read becomes the limit number previously held in the flash ROM 504. It is determined whether or not it has been reached (step S104). If the RFID rewritable medium 111 is new, the number of times of printing is not stored, so the CPU 502 determines that the number of times of printing is zero.

  As a result of the determination (step S104), if the read number of times of printing has reached the limit number (N in step S104), the CPU 502 determines that the RFID rewritable medium 111 is a life medium and performs exclusion control ( Step S109) and life distribution control (step S110) are executed. The exclusion control in step S109 has the same processing contents as in step S107. The life distribution control in step S110 is a process of controlling the distribution mechanism driving unit 510 to drive the distribution member rotating shaft 703 and displacing the distribution member 702 to the “life distribution state”. The RFID rewritable medium 111 is accommodated in the life collection case 141 by executing the exclusion control and the life distribution control.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination (step S104), if the read number of prints has not reached the limit number (Y in step S104), the CPU 502 determines that the RFID rewritable medium 111 is not a life medium, and the RFID Data writing (step S105) and printing based on the print data (step S106) are executed. That is, in step S105, the received RFID data is written to the IC tag 112 with which communication is established. Prior to writing, the data stored in the IC tag 112 from the beginning is erased. In step S105, the print count read in step S103 is incremented, and the incremented print count is written to the IC tag 112. Next, in step S <b> 106, the CPU 502 controls the head control circuit 404 at an appropriate timing, and based on the received print data, the thermal print head 402 performs thermal control on the RFID rewritable medium 111 from which the formed image has been erased. Prints the printing method. The RFID rewritable medium 111 after printing is issued from the medium issuing port 103.

  It should be noted that when the exclusion control (step S107) and the defective distribution control (step S108) are performed, and when the exclusion control (step S109) and the life distribution control (step S110) are performed, the RFID data Since writing (step S105) and printing (step S106) are not executed, the issuing process is executed repeatedly.

  Note that after the RFID data is written in step S105, the written RFID data is read via the printer antenna 152 to determine whether or not the writing process has been performed normally. It can also be a medium. In this case, when the writing process is not normally performed, the process may proceed to step S107.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the number of times of printing on the RFID rewritable medium 111 has reached the limit number, the life is recovered by the distribution mechanism 701 after being removed from the medium path 106 by the removal mechanism 601. The case 141 is distributed and accommodated. When the RFID rewritable medium 111 is defective in writing, the RFID rewritable medium 111 is removed from the medium path 106 by the removal mechanism 601 and then sorted and accommodated in the failure collection case 161 by the sorting mechanism 701. Therefore, the defective medium and the life medium can be separated and collected.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the RFID rewritable medium 111 determined as a defective medium or a life medium is sorted from the medium path 106 by the removing mechanism 601 and then distributed to the destination by the sorting mechanism 701. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide two branch passages from the medium passage 106 (passage for removing the defective medium and passage for removing the life medium). As a result, it is possible to avoid the problem that the medium passage 106, which is an adverse effect of providing a plurality of branch passages, must be lengthened. Further, since it is not necessary to lengthen the medium passage 106 and it is not necessary to provide a plurality of branch passages, the size of the printer 101 (housing 102) can be kept compact.

  In the present embodiment, an example in which the failure collection case 161 is disposed outside the housing 102 has been described, but it goes without saying that the failure collection case 161 may be disposed in the housing 102.

It is a vertical side view of a printer. It is a perspective view which shows RFID rewritable medium. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which expands and shows an exclusion mechanism and a distribution mechanism. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a printer. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of issue processing executed by a printer.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Printer 106 ... Medium path 111 ... RFID rewritable medium (medium)
112 ... IC tag 152 ... Printer antenna (antenna)
401: Printing unit 501: Information processing unit (communication unit)
601 ... Exclusion mechanism 701 ... Distribution mechanism

Claims (1)

A medium passage for guiding a printable and erasable medium with an IC tag for storing data in a rewritable manner along the conveying direction;
A printing unit that is disposed in the medium path and performs printing of a thermal printing method on the medium;
The communication with the IC tag is performed to write and read data including the number of times of printing of the medium via an antenna disposed in the medium path upstream of the printing unit in the medium conveyance direction. A communication unit for determining an abnormality of the medium based on a result;
An exclusion mechanism that is disposed between the printing unit and the antenna and excludes the medium determined to be abnormal based on the communication result from the medium path;
A distribution mechanism that distributes the destination of the medium excluded by the exclusion mechanism to a life recovery position and a failure recovery position;
When it is determined that the medium is abnormal due to the communication failure of the IC tag based on the communication result, the drive source of the sorting mechanism is controlled so that the destination of the medium removed by the exclusion mechanism is the defective. Means for sorting to the collection position;
If it is determined that the medium has been read from the IC tag based on the communication result and the number of times of printing has reached the limit, it is determined that the medium is abnormal and the drive source of the distribution mechanism is controlled to eliminate the rejection. Means for distributing the destination of the medium excluded by a mechanism to the lifetime collection position;
Printer with.

Images