JP2009199919A - Device for rewritable cable marking - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for facilitating writing of visible cable-attribute information on a cable so as to make the visible cable-attribute information rewritable on the cable. <P>SOLUTION: A cable marking device displays the cable-attribute information on the cable surface. The device has a printing part and a control part. The printing part has a cable holding means, a thermal head, and a head moving mechanism for relatively moving the thermal head along the cable surface. The control part has a computer loaded with software for controlling operation of the printing part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cable marking device used for the purpose of displaying cable attribute information in order to identify a cable, and more particularly to a cable marking device in which attribute information can be easily rewritten at a place where the cable is used.

  Various cables used for connecting communication devices and information devices, such as LAN cables and optical cables, generally handle a large number of cables at the same time. Therefore, some type of cable identification means is often required to confirm the attributes of individual cables. . Conventionally, changing the color of the cable, coating the cable with several colors, printing characters on the protective tube of the terminal, or attaching a tag with an identification symbol on the cable Were identified.

As an apparatus and a method for performing some kind of marking on a cable at the manufacturing stage of the cable, apparatuses and methods as disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have been proposed. The cable printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is an apparatus for transferring display information printed in advance by pressing a transfer seal against the surface of the cable immediately after the cable is manufactured.
Further, the color marking coloring method of the optical fiber cable and the optical fiber core shown in Patent Document 2 makes it easy to identify the core by coloring the optical fiber core with a dye-based ink in the optical fiber manufacturing stage. It relates to optical fiber.
These are all related to display or color coding in the cable manufacturing stage and are difficult to apply to the identification of the cable in the connection stage to the device, which is the object of the present invention.

Regarding marking at the cable laying stage, devices and systems as shown in Patent Documents 3 to 6 have been proposed.
The marking device for cable identification shown in Patent Document 3 is a device that performs printing on a coaxial cable used for communication by using a printing belt and paint, in which letters and numbers are formed in a convex shape, It has a means to detect and prints at a certain distance to facilitate cable preparation and identification when laying the cable. However, the device is large and exists in a print belt prepared in advance. Only the character type can be printed, and it cannot be rewritten.

In addition, the cable marking method and the cable identification method disclosed in Patent Document 4 are such that when a cable is laid, a simple marking device is attached to the cable storage container, and a colored line is drawn on the cable surface at the same time as the cable is fed out. It is.
Although this method can be marked with a very simple device, it can form only simple lines and cannot be rewritten.

  The cable labeler shown in Patent Document 5 is proposed for the purpose of providing a wiring management marker when laying the cable, and has a cable transport path in the main body case and is attached to the cable surface by a labeling device. The desired wiring management marker is printed on the label for printing by the printing device, and the printing information is created by the microcomputer, so the degree of freedom of the printed content is high, but once printed, erase it. It could not be rewritten.

The cable attribute information printing system disclosed in Patent Document 6 is also a system that prints attribute information including the length from the reference position of the cable on the surface of the cable, and as a printing means, direct printing and thermal transfer using quick-drying ink However, this invention is also an invention aimed at convenience at the laying stage, and it was written once because the situation of reusing the cable was not taken into consideration. The attribute information cannot be rewritten.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-8829 JP 2006-227285 A JP 2001-229753 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-229754 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-335050 JP 2005-38644 A

  In an environment such as a data center that handles a large number of LAN cables, the same cable is frequently used for other purposes. It was difficult to respond appropriately to such a situation with the conventional method. Tags are relatively easy to rewrite, but are not always easy to see due to physical factors. Therefore, there has been a demand for means that can easily rewrite the display that can be visually identified in various situations according to the use of the cable. Also, since a cable is meaningful only when both ends are paired, it is important to be able to display identification information corresponding to both ends. An object of the present invention is to provide means for easily writing visible cable attribute information to both ends of a cable so as to be rewritable.

  As a means for solving the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a cable that displays cable attribute information on the surface of a cable having a color developing layer containing a leuco dye that can be colored and decolored by heating. The marking device includes a printing unit and a control unit, and the printing unit includes a cable holding unit, a thermal head, and a head moving mechanism that relatively moves the thermal head along the cable surface, The control unit is a cable marking device including a computer having software for controlling the operation of the printing unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the head moving mechanism includes a roller for moving the thermal head in the longitudinal direction of the cable and a roller for rotating the thermal head in the circumferential direction of the cable. The cable marking device according to claim 1, wherein the thermal head is spirally moved along the outer peripheral surface of the cable.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the computer includes a CPU, a keyboard, a display device, a volatile memory, and a nonvolatile external memory, and the software includes an information input mode, an information storage mode, an information transfer mode, 3. The cable marking device according to claim 1, further comprising a program for executing each of an information erasing mode and an information printing mode.

  Moreover, invention of Claim 4 has two sets of the said printing parts, It is a cable marking apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned.

The cable marking device of the present invention includes a printing unit and a control unit, and the printing unit includes a cable holding unit, a thermal head, and a head moving mechanism that moves the thermal head along the surface of the cable. Since the unit has a computer equipped with software for controlling the operation of the printing unit, any cable attribute information can be added to any part of the cable having a coloring layer containing a leuco dye capable of coloring and decoloring. Can be printed and erased.

  The head moving mechanism has a roller for moving the thermal head in the longitudinal direction of the cable and a roller for rotating in the circumferential direction of the cable, and the thermal head is spirally formed along the outer peripheral surface of the cable. The cable attribute information can be printed spirally on the outer peripheral surface of the cable so that the cable attribute information can be visually recognized regardless of the angle at which the cable is connected. It becomes.

  The computer has a CPU, a keyboard, a display device, a volatile memory, and a nonvolatile external memory, and the software has an information input mode, an information storage mode, an information transfer mode, an information deletion mode, and an information printing mode. If you have a program to be executed, you can easily input arbitrary cable attribute information from the keyboard, save the already input cable attribute information in memory, and manage it so that there is no duplication. Or use saved information. Further, it becomes possible to erase or overwrite previously entered information by using a cable having an erasable coloring layer containing a leuco dye, which will be described later.

  In addition, when two sets of the printing units are provided, the cable attribute information can be written to both ends of the cable at the same time, so that the work efficiency is excellent and the occurrence of a writing error can be prevented. As the cable attribute information to be written at this time, the same information can be written at both ends of the cable, or different information can be written.

  Therefore, when the cable attribute information is printed by the cable marking device of the present invention using the cable provided with the coloring layer containing the leuco dye on the surface of the cable, the information can be erased by the device. The cable attribute information can be freely rewritten and the cable can be reused.

The cable marking device and cable marking method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of a cable marking device according to the present invention.
This cable marking device includes two printing units, that is, printing units 1 a and 1 b and a control unit 2, both of which are connected by a connection cable 3. Each of the printing sections has a printing section base 5 and a printing section cover 6, and a cable holding notch 7 is provided as a cable holding means in this example.

Although not all of the cable holding notches 7 are shown in this figure, there are three places at both ends of the printing portion, for a total of six places, and the two ends of the cable are supported at three points, a total of six points. . The number of cable holding notches is not particularly limited, but 3 to 4 points are appropriate for each end. The cable holding notch is preferably made of a non-slip material such as rubber on the surface in contact with the cable, and more preferably provided so as to be extendable and contractible by a spring.
The printing unit cover 6 opens upward with the hinge unit 4 as the center, and is fixed in a closed state by the printing unit cover fastener 8.
The printing parts a and b are made so that the inner surface is an accurate cylinder when the printing part cover 6 is closed.

The control unit 2 includes a computer equipped with software for controlling the operation of the printing unit, and the computer includes at least a CPU, a keyboard, a display device, a volatile memory, and a nonvolatile external memory. In FIG. 1, details are omitted, and a small casing having a keyboard 9 and a display device 10 is schematically illustrated. However, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

  The contents of the software for controlling the operation of the printing unit desirably include a program for executing at least the information input mode, the information storage mode, the information transfer mode, the information erasing mode, and the information printing mode. Each mode will be described in detail later. A part of the function of the control unit may be replaced by a normal personal computer (PC). In this case, necessary software is installed in the PC and the cable marking device is connected to the PC for use. .

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a cable is set in the printing unit of the cable marking apparatus shown in FIG. A state is shown in which the printing unit cover 6 of the printing unit 1a is opened around the hinge unit 4 and the cable 11 is set. Thereafter, the printing unit cover 6 is closed and fixed by the printing unit cover fastener 8, whereby the cable is held by a total of six cable holding notches 7, and the cable setting is completed.
At this time, in order to confirm that the cable is set, if a cable detection sensor or detection switch is provided inside the printing unit and the thermal head does not operate when the cable is not set, This is effective to prevent damage to equipment due to malfunction. The thermal head block lower 16b shown in the drawing will be described later.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the case where there are two sets of printing units. This makes it possible to simultaneously write attribute information to both ends of the cable. Since it is possible to display or to display different sets of information, the management of cable attributes can be performed reliably and efficiently without error.
However, when two sets of printing parts are not required, such as when the frequency of use is low, one printing part may be used.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the cable before marking. A terminal portion 13 is provided at an end portion of the cable 11, and a coloring layer 12 is formed on the surface of the cable near the terminal portion 13. The position of the color developing layer 12 is arbitrary, and may be provided at the most convenient position according to the use conditions. The color forming layer 12 may be formed by a method of attaching a thermal recording label capable of color development by a thermal head or a method of directly forming the color developing layer on the cable surface by a transfer method. Alternatively, a coloring layer may be applied to the entire cable surface at the cable manufacturing stage. In this case, since it becomes possible to display at an arbitrary place of the cable cut to an arbitrary length, it is extremely convenient.

For example, in the case of a heat-sensitive recording label, the color-forming layer is provided with a heat-sensitive color-generating layer and, if necessary, a surface protective layer on the surface of a support such as paper or film, and on the back side, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. What provided the pattern paper is common. When a layer having a thermal recording layer containing a leuco dye and a reversible developer capable of developing the leuco dye by heating and decoloring by reheating is used as the thermosensitive coloring layer, the color is once developed. Then, after forming the attribute information, the color can be erased by heating again, and further information can be formed, so that the cable can be easily reused.
It should be noted that the coloring and decoloring of the leuco dye can be performed with a single thermal head. In this case, a thermal head that can reproduce two levels of temperature, a high temperature recording mode and a low temperature erasing mode, may be used.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the state of the cable that has been marked, and shows a state in which the cable attribute information 14 is formed on the coloring layer 12 provided in the vicinity of the terminal 13 of the cable 11. When the cable attribute information 14 is formed in a spiral shape on the surface of the cable as shown in this figure, the cable attribute information 14 can be read regardless of the state in which the cable is connected. The cable attribute information 14 displays the same contents repeatedly, so that the readable angle is further widened and the attribute information is surely visually recognized.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an internal state of the printing unit of the cable marking device according to the present invention. The printing unit base 5 and the printing unit cover 6 are opened with the hinge unit 4 as the center. In the figure, there are six cable holding notches 7 as cable holding means, two on the printing unit base 5 and two on each end of the printing unit cover 6.
Inside, a thermal head block upper part 16a having a thermal head 17 and a thermal head block lower part 16b fitted thereto are provided. The thermal head block top 16 a and the printing unit cover 6 are connected by a flexible cable 18.
Although not visible in the figure, the thermal head block lower 16b and the printing unit base 5 are similarly connected by a flexible cable.

FIG. 6 is an external view of the thermal head block 15.
The thermal head block 15 includes a thermal head block upper portion 16a and a thermal head block lower portion 16b, and has a cylindrical shape when fitted together. Each block includes a lateral movement roller 19 for moving the thermal head block 15 in the longitudinal direction of the cable as a head movement mechanism, and a rotation roller 20 for rotating the cable in the circumferential direction. It has a built-in micro motor that drives these rollers.

  Both the lateral movement roller 19 and the rotation roller 20 are held by a spring, and are in close contact with the cylindrical surface of the printing unit inner surface with the printing unit cover 6 closed. Therefore, based on the drive signal sent by the flexible cable 18, the thermal head block 15 can freely move and rotate along the cylindrical surface of the inner surface of the printing unit. As a result, the thermal head 17 can be freely moved while being in contact with the surface of the cable held at the center of the thermal head block 15.

  When the lateral movement roller 19 and the rotation roller 20 are driven at the same time, the thermal head scans the surface of the cable in a spiral, so that a spiral display as shown in FIG. 4 is possible. It becomes.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a different embodiment of the cable marking device according to the present invention. In this embodiment, there is one printing unit, and the printing unit base 5 and the printing unit cover 6 are connected to each other by the hinge unit 4 so as to be freely opened and closed. The printing unit base 5 and the printing unit cover 6 are directly provided with a lateral movement roller 19 and a rotation roller 20 on the inner peripheral surface, and a micro motor for driving them is built in. A thermal head 17 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the printing unit cover 6. When the printing unit base 5 and the printing unit cover 6 are closed in a state where the cable is placed at the center, the lateral movement roller 19 and the rotation roller 20 are in direct contact with the cable surface and act as cable holding means. When a print signal is input via the connection cable 3, the lateral movement roller 19 and the rotation roller 20 are driven, and the thermal head 17 moves while contacting the surface of the cable to print desired cable attribute information. can do. At this time, since the entire printing unit moves or rotates relative to the cable, hold the cable securely so that it does not move, or conversely, fix the printing unit and It is necessary to take either means to move freely, but the cable marking device shown in the present embodiment has the advantage that the price of the product is low because the overall mechanism is simple. Is.

Next, the control unit and software will be described. The control unit has a computer equipped with software for controlling the operation of the printing unit described above, and this computer has a CPU, a keyboard, a display device, a volatile memory, a nonvolatile external memory, and the like. Yes.
The keyboard prepares necessary keys according to the character types required as cable attribute information and the efficiency required for input. As the display device, a liquid crystal display device is the most common. The volatile memory temporarily holds instructions and data in each operation mode. The non-volatile external memory is a part that stores an OS that controls the basic operation of the computer, basic software that controls each micromotor and thermal head of the printing unit, and a program that executes each operation mode described below. is there. In addition, by providing an external storage device for saving the created cable attribute information as a file, it becomes easier to manage the cable attribute information.

  As software, it is necessary to have at least a program for executing the information input mode, the information storage mode, the information transfer mode, the information erasing mode, and the information printing mode. The information input mode is a mode in which necessary cable attribute information is input from the keyboard. The attribute information created here is stored in the volatile memory in the information storage mode. Information stored in the volatile memory is transferred to the printing unit in the information transfer mode. It can also be transferred and stored in an external storage device. The information erasure mode is for causing the thermal head of the printing unit to perform an erasing operation. In the information printing mode, the micromotor of the printing unit is driven and the information transferred to the printing unit is printed on the thermal head. Is. Usually, in the printing mode, the thermal head becomes high temperature in a short time, and the color forming layer containing the leuco dye is heated to the color developing temperature, and further rapidly cooled to develop the leuco dye. In the erasing mode, the leuco dye is decolored by maintaining at a transition temperature lower than the coloring temperature for a long time.

Explanatory drawing which showed an example of the cable marking apparatus which concerns on this invention Explanatory drawing which showed the state which sets a cable in the printing part of the cable marking apparatus which concerns on this invention Explanatory drawing showing the state of the cable before marking Explanatory drawing showing the state of the cable with marking Explanatory drawing which showed the state inside the printing part of the cable marking apparatus which concerns on this invention External view of thermal head block Explanatory drawing which showed the other Example of the cable marking apparatus based on this invention

Explanation of symbols

1a ・ ・ ・ Printing part a
1b: Printing section b
2 ... Control unit
3 ... Connection cable
4 ・ ・ ・ Hinge part
5 ... Printing section base
6 ... Printer cover
7 ... Cable holding notch
8 ... Print section cover fastener
9 ... Keyboard
10 ... Display device
11 ... Cable
12 ... Coloring layer
13 ... Terminal part
14: Cable attribute information
15 ... Thermal head block
16a ・ ・ ・ On thermal head block
16b: Under thermal head block
17 ... Thermal head
18 ... Flexible cable
19 ... Transverse roller
20 ... Rotating roller

Claims (4)

  A cable marking device for displaying cable attribute information on the surface of a cable having a coloring layer containing a leuco dye that can be colored and decolored by heating, and has a printing unit and a control unit, A cable holding means, a thermal head, and a head moving mechanism that relatively moves the thermal head along the surface of the cable, and the control unit includes a computer that includes software for controlling the operation of the printing unit. A cable marking device characterized by   The head moving mechanism has a roller for moving the thermal head in the longitudinal direction of the cable and a roller for rotating the thermal head in the circumferential direction of the cable, and the thermal head is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the cable. The cable marking device according to claim 1, wherein the cable marking device is moved along a spiral.   The computer has a CPU, a keyboard, a display device, a volatile memory, and a nonvolatile external memory, and the software has an information input mode, an information storage mode, an information transfer mode, an information erasure mode, and an information print mode. The cable marking device according to claim 1, further comprising a program to be executed.   The cable marking device according to claim 1, comprising two sets of the printing units.