JP2009101523A - Rewritable printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a time from erasure of a sheet of rewritable paper to printing completion in the case of using the sheet of rewritable paper of a short size. <P>SOLUTION: When using the short-sized sheet of rewritable paper SP shorter than a maximum-sized sheet of rewritable paper P1, a printing part 160 is moved and fixed to a position where it approaches an erasing part 150 by using a printing part fixing mechanism 190 which fixes the printing part 160 to a housing 11. A roller member 112 near the erasing part among a plurality of roller members 111, 112, 113 and 114 arranged at a roller placement part 110 is made to function as a platen roller, and also the roller member 113 of the upstream is made to function as a conveyance roller. Printing is thus carried out. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a rewritable printer, and in particular, an erasing unit for erasing a cut sheet-like rewritable medium that is disposed in a housing and can be printed and erased by heating, and a rewritable medium that is the largest of the erasing unit and the rewritable medium A printing unit that is disposed on the housing with a gap larger than the length in the conveyance direction and that has a thermal head to print the rewritable medium, and a plurality of the rewritable medium that is in contact with the lower surface of the rewritable medium The present invention relates to a rewritable printer including a roller arrangement portion including a roller member.

  Conventionally, rewritable paper that can be printed and erased by heat has been put to practical use. Rewritable paper has a reversible thermosensitive recording layer containing leuco dye or developer on the surface of the paper, and the printed content is fixed by rapid cooling after heating, and the printed content is erased by slow cooling after heating. It has the characteristic that

  The erasing device erases the print content printed on the rewritable paper. The erasing device picks up the rewritable paper on which the predetermined printing content is printed one by one with a pick-up roller, etc., and adds heat energy necessary for erasing the printing content according to the characteristics of the rewritable paper from a heating element such as a heat roller. After that, the print contents are erased by slow cooling.

  Further, printing on rewritable paper is performed by, for example, a printing apparatus that performs printing based on print data including a thermal head. In the printing apparatus, the heating temperature of the rewritable medium by the heating element of the thermal head is set higher than the heating temperature for erasing, thereby realizing rapid cooling after heating.

  In recent years, an erasing device is arranged on the upstream side of the rewritable paper conveyance path, and a printing device including a thermal head is arranged on the downstream side, and printing can be performed immediately after erasing the print contents of the rewritable paper. A rewritable printer is realized.

  Examples of such rewritable printers include the following. FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing a conventional rewritable printer.

  The rewritable printer 200 uses rewritable paper P cut to a fixed size. Inside the rewritable printer 200, a paper path 210 as a medium path for guiding a rewritable paper P as a rewritable medium is formed. The paper path 210 communicates with the paper storage unit 220 and the paper issue port 230, and an erasing unit 250 that is an erasing device and a printing unit 260 that is a printing device are respectively arranged in the middle. The arrangement position of the erasing unit 250 is on the upstream side, and the arrangement position of the printing unit 260 is on the downstream side.

  The paper storage unit 220 is provided with a lifter 221 that can be moved up and down. The lifter 221 can place and support a plurality of rewritable sheets P in a stacked state.

  The paper storage unit 220 is provided with a paper feed mechanism 240 that feeds the uppermost rewritable paper P placed on the lifter 221 to the paper path 210. The paper feed mechanism 240 feeds only the uppermost rewritable paper P placed on the lifter 221 to the paper path 210.

  The paper feed mechanism 240 includes a pickup roller 241 and a reverse separation mechanism 242. The pickup roller 241 applies a feeding force to the uppermost rewritable paper P placed on the lifter 221 by its rotation. The separation mechanism 242 separates the lower rewritable paper P that is double-fed by the rotation of the pickup roller 241, and feeds only the uppermost rewritable paper P to the paper path 210. Such sheet separation is performed by rotation in the direction opposite to the feeding direction of the reverse roller 243 included in the separation mechanism 242.

  The erasing unit 250 includes a heat roller 251 and a press roller 252 that are disposed to face each other with the paper path 210 interposed therebetween. The heat roller 251 is disposed above the paper path 210, and the press roller 252 is disposed below the paper path 210.

  The printing unit 260 includes a thermal head 261 and a platen roller 262 disposed at a position facing the thermal head 261. In addition, the printing unit 260 includes a paper sensor 263 that detects the rewritable paper P.

  Further, the sheet path 210 includes a pair of conveyance rollers 212 as the conveyance unit 213 in addition to the plate-like members 211 that form a pair of structures.

  The rewritable printer 200 is provided with various sensors. In other words, the rewritable printer 200 includes an environmental temperature sensor 271, a paper temperature sensor 272 as a medium temperature sensor, and a paper feed sensor 273.

  In Patent Document 1, as such a rewritable printer, a thick film heater having an erasing function is provided on the upstream side of the conveyance path, and a thermal head having a printing function is provided on the downstream side of the conveyance path. Environmental temperature and rewritable paper so that optimum erasing quality and print quality can be obtained even if the characteristics of the rewritable paper (recording medium in Patent Document 1) and the characteristics of a heating element such as a thermal head change. In this document, there is described a method for controlling the sheet conveyance speed optimum for erasing and printing of printing information according to the type of printing and for controlling the pulse of the printing head.

JP 2001-026132 A

  By the way, in the rewritable printer described above, the dimension L3 between the erasing unit 250 and the printing unit 260 is larger than the dimension L1 in the transport direction of the rewritable paper P. The dimension L3 is slightly longer than the dimension L1, and printing is executed immediately after the erasing of the rewritable paper P is completed.

  The dimension L3 is determined in this way in order to prevent the rewritable paper P from being placed on the erasing unit 250 and the printing unit 260 at the same time so that the erasing and printing of the rewritable paper P are not performed simultaneously. is there. When erasing and printing are performed at the same time, the power consumption of both devices is added, the power consumption of the rewritable printer 200 as a whole is increased, and the power device must be made larger, and the cost of the rewritable printer 200 is increased. This is prevented because it is bulky.

  However, the paper size used by the consumer in the rewritable printer 200 is various. For example, the short rewritable paper SP having the dimension L2 smaller than the rewritable paper P having the dimension L1 described above may be used. In such a case, since the speed at which the short-size rewritable paper SP is conveyed between the erasing unit 250 and the printing unit 260 is the same, the time required for conveyance is the same as that of the normal rewritable paper P. . For this reason, the time required for printing is the same as that of the rewritable paper P having a normal size even for the short rewritable paper SP.

  In such a state, there is a long idle time during which the short dimension rewritable paper SP is conveyed from the erasing unit 250 to the printing unit 260, and neither erase nor print is long. The printing time can be shortened, and the total printing time can be shortened when a large amount of short-size rewritable paper SP is printed.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a rewritable printer that can shorten the time from erasing of a rewritable medium to completion of printing when using a rewritable medium having a short size.

  In the present invention, the means for solving the above-described problems includes: an erasing unit for erasing a cut sheet-like rewritable medium that is arranged in a housing and can be printed and erased by heating; and the erasing unit and the rewritable medium A printing unit that is disposed in the housing at a distance larger than a length dimension in a conveyance direction of the largest rewritable medium and includes a thermal head to print the rewritable medium; and a lower surface of the rewritable medium that is in contact with the rewritable medium. A rewritable printer comprising a plurality of roller members for conveying a medium, and the plurality of roller members provided in the roller placement unit are arranged in parallel at equal pitch dimensions, and the thermal of the printing unit The function as a platen roller to be demonstrated in a pair with the head and the rewritable medium are transferred. A roller member that is formed in the same shape with the same material having a function as a conveying roller to be disposed, and the printing unit is disposed on the upstream side of the thermal head, spaced from the thermal head by the same dimension as the pitch, and disposed on the upstream side. The printing unit includes a printing unit conveyance roller that causes the roller member to function as a conveyance roller, and the printing unit is located upstream of the roller member on which the thermal head is disposed opposite to the thermal head when printing the maximum rewritable medium. And a printing unit fixing mechanism that fixes the printing unit conveying roller so as to be arranged to face a roller member upstream of the roller member arranged to face the thermal head. The rewritable printer is fixed to the casing.

  According to the present invention, when using a rewritable sheet having a short size, the printing unit is moved upstream so as to approach the erasing unit, and the roller member close to the erasing unit among the plurality of roller members provided in the roller arranging unit is moved to the platen. Since it is possible to print as a roller, the distance between the erasing part and the printing part can be made smaller than when using a long rewritable paper, and when using a rewritable medium with a short dimension, erasing from the rewritable medium The time until printing is completed can be shortened.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a rewritable printer. The rewritable printer 10 according to the present embodiment is configured such that each part is housed in a casing 11 having a configuration in which the width of the rear portion 11a is narrower than the width of the front portion 11b. That is, the paper storage unit 120 and the erasing unit 150 are fixed to the rear portion 11a of the housing 11, and the printing unit 160 is fixed to the front portion 11b by the printing unit fixing mechanism 190 (see FIG. 2). A paper issue port 230 is formed on the front surface of the housing 11.

  Further, in FIG. 1, the display unit 12 and the operation unit 13 are disposed in the upper left part of the paper issue port 230. The display unit 12 is a horizontally long liquid crystal display device, and can display several lines of information. A removable cover member 14 is disposed above the front portion 11b so that the inside of the rewritable printer 10 is exposed so that the printing unit 160 described later can be moved and the roller member 111 can be removed. . The rear part 11a of the casing 11 that stores the paper storage unit 120 and the erasing unit 150 and the front part 11b of the casing that stores the printing unit 160 may be configured to be separable.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic internal configuration of the rewritable printer. The rewritable printer 10 of this example can use the largest and always used A4 size maximum rewritable paper P1 or a dimensional rewritable paper SP of A5 size having a smaller dimension in the transport direction than the rewritable paper P.

  First, the configuration when using the rewritable paper P1 will be described. The rewritable printer 10 stores a maximum rewritable paper P1 (a short-size rewritable paper SP in the figure (hereinafter collectively referred to as a rewritable paper P)), which is a cut sheet-like rewritable medium, in a housing 11. A paper storage unit 120 that performs printing and erasing of the rewritable paper, a printing unit 160 that performs printing by heating the rewritable paper P, and the erasing unit 150 to the printing unit 160. And a roller arrangement portion 110 in which four roller members 111, 112, 113, 114 for conveying the rewritable paper P are arranged.

  These roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114 are arranged side by side on the housing 11 with an equal pitch dimension S that can be contacted to the lower surface of the rewritable medium, and are formed as members of the same material and shape. ing. In addition, the roller member 113 is provided with a counter roller 116 and the roller member 114 is provided with a counter roller 117 to form a conveying portion 118. In addition, the roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114 are attached to the casing 11. Yes. In this example, the roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114 are screwed to the housing 11 via bearings, and can be disposed so as to be attachable and detachable.

  Further, the dimension L3 between the erasing unit 150 and the printing unit 160 is formed to be larger than the dimension L1 in the transport direction of the maximum rewritable paper P1 which is the maximum size to be printed, in this example, A4 size.

  The configuration of the paper storage unit 120, the paper feed mechanism 140, and the erasing unit 150 is the same as that of the conventional rewritable printer 200 described above. In other words, the paper storage unit 120 is provided with a lifter 121 that can be moved up and down. The lifter 121 can place and support a plurality of rewritable sheets P in a stacked state.

  The paper feed mechanism 140 feeds only the uppermost rewritable paper P placed on the lifter 121 to the roller placement unit 110. The paper feed mechanism 140 includes a pickup roller 141 and a reverse separation mechanism 142. The pickup roller 141 applies a feeding force to the uppermost rewritable paper P placed on the lifter 121 by its rotation. The separation mechanism 142 separates the lower rewritable paper P that is double-fed by the rotation of the pickup roller 141, and only the uppermost rewritable paper P is fed to the paper path.

  Such sheet separation is performed by rotation in the direction opposite to the feeding direction of the reverse roller 143 included in the separation mechanism 142.

  The erasing unit 150 includes a heat roller 151 and a press roller 152 that are arranged to face each other. The heat roller 151 is disposed at the upper position, and the press roller 152 is disposed at the lower position.

  In addition, the roller arrangement | positioning part 110 is equipped with the plate-like member 115 which makes | forms a pair of structure, and arrange | positions the said roller member 111,112,113,114 and the opposing rollers 116,117. The rewritable printer 10 is provided with various sensors. In other words, the rewritable printer 10 includes an environmental temperature sensor 171, a paper temperature sensor 172 as a medium temperature sensor, and a paper feed sensor 173.

  In this example, the printing unit 160 includes a thermal head 161 that heats the rewritable paper P, a printing unit facing roller 162 that transports the rewritable paper P, and a paper sensor 163. Further, the printing unit 160 can be attached to and detached from the casing 11 and is fixed to the casing 11 by a printing unit fixing mechanism 190 that can change the mounting position. When the size of the rewritable paper P to be printed is smaller than A4 and the short dimension rewritable paper SP is smaller in the conveyance direction L2, the printing unit 160 can be moved and fixed to the erasing unit 150 side.

  Next, the movement of the printing unit 160 will be described. FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating a state of movement of the printing unit, in which FIG. 3A is a schematic diagram illustrating use of a normal rewritable sheet, and FIG. 3B is a schematic diagram illustrating use of a short-size rewritable sheet. In this example, the printing unit 160 is fixed to the housing 11 by a printing unit fixing mechanism 190. The printing unit fixing mechanism 190 includes mounting holes 191 and 192 and mounting holes 193 and 194 opened in the housing 11, and a fastener such as a screw is inserted into the mounting holes 191 and 192 or the mounting holes 193 and 194. The attachment position 160 is changed and attached to the housing 11. That is, when printing on the maximum rewritable paper P1, as shown in FIG. 3A, the printing unit 160 is fixed by the mounting holes 191 and 192 and is arranged on the most downstream side. Accordingly, the thermal head 161 is disposed to face the roller member 111, and the printing unit facing roller 162 is disposed to face the roller member 112.

  On the other hand, when printing a sized rewritable paper SP having a size smaller than usual, for example, A6 size, the cover member 14 of the housing 11 is removed, and the printing unit 160 is removed from the mounting holes 191 and 192 by the operator. As shown to (b), it fixes to the attachment holes 193 and 194 located in an upstream. In this state, the dimension L4 (see FIG. 4) between the erasing unit 150 and the printing unit 160 is set to be larger than the dimension L2 in the transport direction of the short rewritable paper SP. Accordingly, the thermal head 161 is disposed to face the roller member 112, and the printing unit facing roller 162 is disposed to face the roller member 113.

  As the printing unit fixing mechanism, a mechanism for fixing the printing unit 160 to the mounting hole with a screw is shown. However, the printing unit 160 is configured to be engaged with the casing 11, and the printing unit 160 can be positioned by an easy procedure. An attachment / detachment mechanism that can be variably attached can be provided.

  When the printing unit 160 is moved, as shown in FIG. 3B, the shortest rewritable paper SP discharged from the printing unit 160 is removed while the most downstream roller member 111 and the opposing roller 116 are removed from the casing 11. It is assumed that a discharge path portion 180 that guides the outside of the housing 11 is disposed (see FIG. 4). The discharge path portion 180 includes a path that is inclined downward as it goes outward from the casing 11. The short-size rewritable paper SP that has been printed by the printing section 160 slides along the path of the discharge path section 180. It is quickly discharged out of the body 11. The discharge path portion 180 is disposed in a gap portion in the housing 11 and is removed when the rewritable paper P is used.

  Here, of the roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114, the roller members 111 and 112 need to exhibit a function as a platen roller in a state where the roller members 111 and 112 are disposed to face the thermal head 161 of the printing unit 160. Further, these roller members 112, 113, and 114 need to exhibit a function as a conveyance roller that moves the short-size rewritable paper SP from the erasing unit 150 to the printing unit 160. In this example, all the roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114 can function as platen rollers and transport rollers, and all the roller members 111, 112, 113, and 114 can be detached from the housing 11. The work at the time of assembling the roller members 111, 112, 113, 114 is simplified.

  Next, the usage state of the rewritable printer 10 according to this example will be described. When the normally used maximum rewritable paper P1 is used, the printing unit 160 is arranged at the most downstream side of the roller arrangement unit 110 in the housing 11 as shown in FIG. That is, the thermal head 161 of the printing unit 160 is disposed to face the roller member 111, and the printing unit facing roller 162 is disposed to face the roller member 112. In this state, the roller member 111 functions as a platen roller, and the roller member 112 functions as a transport roller.

  The maximum rewritable paper P1 is taken out from the paper storage unit 120 by the paper feeding mechanism 140, and the printing content is erased by the erasing unit 150. The roller member 114 and the counter roller 117, and the roller member 113 and the counter roller 116 are paired. Is conveyed to the printing unit 160 by the conveying unit 118, and is conveyed between the thermal head 161 and the roller member 111 functioning as a platen roller by the pair of the roller member 112 and the printing unit opposing roller 162 in the printing unit 160 for printing. Made.

  In this state, the dimension L3 between the erasing unit 150 and the printing unit 160 is larger than the dimension L1 in the transport direction of the rewritable paper P. Therefore, the erasing by the erasing unit 150 and the printing by the printing unit 160 are simultaneously performed on the rewritable paper P. The rewritable printer 10 does not consume a large amount of power.

  On the other hand, when the short dimension rewritable paper SP is used, printing is performed as follows. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state of the rewritable printer when short-size rewritable paper is used. When the short rewritable paper SP is used, the printing unit 160 is moved to the upstream side of the roller placement unit 110 in the housing 11. In other words, the thermal head 161 of the printing unit 160 is disposed to face the roller member 112, and the printing unit facing roller 162 is disposed to face the roller member 113. And while removing the roller member 111 and the opposing roller 116, the discharge path | route part 180 is arrange | positioned. In this state, the roller member 112 functions as a platen roller, and the roller member 113 functions as a transport roller.

  The short-size rewritable paper SP is taken out from the paper storage unit 120 by the paper feed mechanism 140 and the printing content is erased by the erasing unit 150. The conveying unit 118 configured by a pair of the roller member 114 and the counter roller 117 The paper is conveyed to the printing unit 160 by the short conveyance unit 119, and is conveyed and printed between the thermal head 161 and the roller member 112 functioning as a platen roller by a pair of the roller member 113 and the printing unit opposing roller 162 in the printing unit 160. The

  Further, in this state, the dimension L4 between the erasing unit 150 and the printing unit 160 is larger than the dimension L2 in the conveyance direction of the short rewritable paper SP, so that the erasing by the erasing unit 150 on the rewritable paper P and the printing unit 160 are performed. Printing is not performed simultaneously, and the rewritable printer 10 does not consume a large amount of power. Since the dimension L4 between the erasing unit 150 and the printing unit 160 can be made smaller than the dimension L3 when the rewritable paper P is used, the movement time from the erasing unit 150 to the printing unit 160 of the short sized rewritable paper SP is shortened. The printing speed can be improved as a whole.

  As described above, according to the rewritable printer 10 of this example, the printing unit 160 and the erasing unit 150 are printed by moving the printing unit 160 to the upstream side from the printing of the maximum rewritable paper P1 when the short size rewritable paper SP is used. The size L4 between the portions 160 can be made smaller than the size L3 between the erasing portion 150 and the printing portion 160 when the maximum rewritable paper P1 is used. In addition, by providing the discharge path portion 180, the printed short size rewritable paper The SP can be quickly discharged out of the casing 11. For this reason, it is possible to shorten the printing time when the short dimension rewritable paper SP is used. Further, according to this example, since it is not necessary to add a special member or mechanism to realize the rewritable printer 10 capable of dealing with the short-size rewritable paper SP in this way, the rewritable printer can be manufactured without increasing the cost. Can be realized.

  In the above example, the printing unit 160 is moved upstream by one roller member. However, the printing unit 160 can be moved by two or more roller members according to the size of the rewritable paper used in the conveyance direction.

  In the above example, all four roller members can be attached and removed, and the same material that functions as a platen roller and a transport roller is made of the same shape. However, the roller members can be removed within the range in which the printing unit is moved, and the same. The same material can be used.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of a rewritable printer. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal schematic structure of a rewritable printer. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a moving state of a printing unit, in which FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating use of a normal rewritable sheet, and FIG. 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating use of a short rewritable sheet. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state of the rewritable printer when using short-size rewritable paper. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal schematic structure of the conventional rewritable printer.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Rewritable printer, 110 ... Roller arrangement | positioning part, 111, 112, 113, 114 ... Roller member, 150 ... Erase part, 160 ... Printing part, 161 ... Thermal head, 162 ... Printing part counter roller, 190 Printing part fixing mechanism

Claims (3)

An erasing unit for erasing a cut sheet-like rewritable medium arranged in a housing and capable of printing and erasing by heating, and a gap larger than a length dimension in a conveyance direction of the rewritable medium, which is the largest among the erasing unit and the rewritable medium A printing unit that prints the rewritable medium with a thermal head disposed in a housing with a gap therebetween, and a roller arrangement unit that includes a plurality of roller members that contact the lower surface of the rewritable medium and convey the rewritable medium; In a rewritable printer comprising:
The plurality of roller members included in the roller arrangement portion are arranged in parallel with an equal pitch dimension, and move a function as a platen roller that is paired with a thermal head of the printing portion and the rewritable medium. It is formed in the same shape with the same material with the function as a transport roller,
The printing unit is a printing unit that is disposed upstream of the thermal head by the same size as the pitch and spaced from the thermal head, and is paired with an opposing roller member to cause the roller member to function as a transport roller. With a transport roller,
The printing unit arranges the thermal head so as to oppose a roller member arranged upstream of a roller member arranged to oppose the thermal head during printing of the maximum rewritable medium, and the printing unit transport roller is arranged on the thermal head. A rewritable printer, wherein the rewritable printer is fixed to the casing by a printing unit fixing mechanism that fixes the roller member disposed so as to face the roller member upstream from the roller member arranged opposite to the roller member.   The rewritable printer according to claim 1, further comprising a discharge path member that is disposed in the housing when the position of the printing unit is changed and discharges the rewritable medium printed by the printing unit to the outside of the housing.   The roller member disposed downstream of the roller member that contacts the thermal head of the printing unit when the position of the roller member is changed by the printing unit fixing mechanism is configured to be removable from the roller arranging unit. The rewritable printer according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that:

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