JP2010165431A - Medium processing system, method of controlling the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medium processing system which prevents degradation of the throughput of a medium manufacturing due to the cleaning of a print head, and to provide a method of controlling the system. <P>SOLUTION: A host computer 100 executes step S13 for determining whether the print head of a printer 11 has to be cleaned and step S14 for transmitting a cleaning execution instruction to a publisher 1 before a conveyance instruction when determining the necessity of the cleaning of the print head before transmitting to the publisher 1 the conveyance instruction for conveying a medium to the printer 11. The printer 11 carries out cleaning step S15 in response to the cleaning execution instruction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a media processing system, a control method thereof, and a program for performing data writing processing on a recording surface of a medium and printing processing on the printing surface of the media based on a command from a host computer.

  Write data to the media storage unit for storing media such as CDs and DVDs, the media drive that writes data to and reads data from the media, and the label side of the media on which the data is written. 2. Description of the Related Art A media processing apparatus having a label printer for printing a label including a title to be displayed, a writing date, and the like, a media transport mechanism for transporting media, and a control unit that controls driving of each unit is known. (See Patent Document 1).

The media transport mechanism, media drive, and label printer of the media processing device described in Patent Document 1 all receive media issuance jobs from an application of a host computer that is communicably connected to the media processing device, and various drivers receive media. It controls the drive, label printer, and media transport mechanism, and performs prescribed processing for media.
FIG. 5 shows a procedure of media production processing in which the media processing device described in Patent Document 1 processes media based on a media issue job from an application installed in a host computer.

  When information input to the host computer application (input of data to be written on the recording surface of the media or input of data to be printed on the label surface of the media) is completed and a media issue command is given, a media production job is generated. When a transport command to the media transport mechanism is transmitted to the media processing device based on the media production job (step S101), the media transport mechanism transports the media from the media storage unit to the media drive accordingly (step S102). When the transport of the media is completed, this is notified to the host computer. The media drive that has received the media writes data according to the write command (step S103) (step S104).

  Next, when the media transport mechanism receives a transport command for transporting the media from the media drive to the label printer (step S105), the media transport mechanism transports the media from the media drive to the label printer (step S106). To the host computer. Upon receiving the print command from the host computer (step S107), the label printer that has received the medium determines whether or not the print head needs to be cleaned before the printing process based on the previous use state of the print head.

  When it is determined that the print head needs to be cleaned, the label printer that has received the print command selects a head cleaning operation to be performed based on a preset head cleaning condition, and executes the head cleaning (step S108). After the cleaning is completed, label printing on the medium is executed (step S109).

  After the label printing is completed, when the media transport mechanism receives a transport command for transferring the media on the label printer to the media storage unit (step S110), the media transport mechanism stores the media on the label printer based on the command. A series of processing is completed when it is transported to the section (step S111).

  By the way, the label printer mounted on the media processing device described in Patent Document 1 described above is an inkjet that performs printing on the label surface of the media by ejecting ink supplied from each ink cartridge from the nozzles of the print head. It is a printer. In an inkjet printer, it is necessary to perform head cleaning according to the degree of dirt or clogging of the print head at regular or irregular intervals in order to prevent deterioration in print quality due to nozzle dirt or clogging.

  In step S108 described above, among various preset operations such as a wiping operation for wiping the print head, a main suction operation for sucking a predetermined amount of ink from the nozzles of the print head, a micro suction operation, an empty suction operation, and a pause operation. From the above, cleaning of the print head in which any one or a plurality of print heads are combined is performed according to the degree of dirt or clogging of the print head.

JP 2006-331534 A

  As shown in FIG. 5, conventionally, when the label printer receives a print command in step S107, it is determined whether or not head cleaning is necessary based on the use status of the print head so far. Perform head cleaning. For this reason, since the printing process on the label side of the media cannot be started until the cleaning of the print head is completed, the printing start time is delayed, and the throughput of the media production process may be reduced.

  When the print head is cleaned only by a light cleaning operation such as a wiping operation for wiping the print head, the delay in the print start time is not so noticeable, and the decrease in the throughput of the media manufacturing process is not so much noticeable.

  However, since the print head is extremely dirty, when a heavy cleaning is performed by combining a plurality of cleaning operations, the time required for the cleaning becomes long, and thus a decrease in the throughput of the media manufacturing process cannot be ignored. In particular, when the print head has not been used for a long time, such as when the power of the media processing device is switched from the OFF state to the ON state, it is necessary to execute a powerful cleaning operation with a relatively long operation time. Therefore, the time required for the first label printing, that is, the so-called first print delay becomes remarkable.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is a media processing system capable of preventing a decrease in the throughput of media production processing for cleaning the print head, a control method thereof, and The purpose is to provide a program.

A media processing system according to the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is a data writing unit that executes data writing processing on a recording surface of a medium, and ink is ejected from a nozzle of a print head to the label surface of the medium. A media processing device comprising: a printing unit that executes a printing process and a cleaning process for the print head; and a transport unit that transports the media to the data writing unit and the printing unit, and is communicable with the media processing device A media processing system having a connected host computer,
The host computer includes a cleaning determination unit that determines whether or not the print head needs to be cleaned, and the cleaning determination is performed before the transport command for transporting the medium to the printing unit is transmitted to the media processing device. When the unit determines that the print head needs to be cleaned, a cleaning execution command is transmitted to the media processing device before the transport command,
The printing unit may perform the cleaning in response to the cleaning execution command.
According to the above configuration, when the print head needs to be cleaned, the cleaning execution command is transmitted to the media processing device before the transport command for transporting the media to the printing unit.
For this reason, compared with the case where the cleaning is executed after receiving the print command from the host computer after the data writing process by the data writing part and the medium transporting process to the printing part are completed as in the past, You can speed up printing. The printing unit can execute a print command issued by the host computer more quickly than before, and can prevent or reduce a decrease in the throughput of the media production process for print head cleaning. For example, when the printing unit is in a stopped state and the print head has not been used for a long time, such as when the power of the media processing device is changed from the OFF state to the ON state, the cleaning process takes a long time. Although it is necessary to execute processing, it is particularly effective in such a case.

  Note that the printing unit only needs to be configured to be able to recognize a cleaning execution command from the host computer so that cleaning can be executed by an instruction from a user using the application, for example. For this reason, the existing media processing apparatus can be used as it is, and the printer driver that controls the printing unit mounted on the host computer may be provided with a cleaning determination unit.

In the media processing system of the present invention, the printing unit executes the cleaning in parallel with any of the media transport processing and the data writing processing in response to the cleaning execution command. And
According to the above configuration, before the print command is transmitted from the host computer, the cleaning can be executed in parallel with the media transport process to the data writing unit and the data writing process in the data writing unit. .
The data writing process in the data writing unit is usually longer than the time required for head cleaning. For this reason, for example, when head cleaning is started before the data writing process in the data writing unit, the cleaning process ends before receiving a print command from the host computer. Therefore, when the printing unit receives a print command from the host computer, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the print process received from the host computer is suspended for cleaning the print head. That is, the printing unit can immediately execute the print command received from the host computer, and can prevent the throughput of the media production process from being reduced due to the cleaning of the print head.

In the media processing system of the present invention, the cleaning determination unit determines that the cleaning is necessary at least when the media processing system is activated.
Since at least the media processing device is in a non-operating state before the media processing system is activated, there is a high need for head cleaning of the print head. Furthermore, it is possible to issue a cleaning execution command at an earlier stage by issuing a cleaning execution command unconditionally when the media processing system is activated. Therefore, it is possible to secure a longer usable time for the cleaning process until the printing unit receives the print command, and even when performing a cleaning that requires a relatively long processing time, it is ensured until the print command is received. The cleaning process can be completed. That is, it is possible to efficiently execute the cleaning process by effectively utilizing the idle time during which the printing unit has not received a print command.

In the media processing system of the present invention, the cleaning determination unit inquires about the print head cleaning status to the media processing device, and whether or not cleaning is necessary based on the cleaning status transmitted in response to the inquiry. It is characterized by determining.
According to the above configuration, the cleaning determination unit can inquire about the cleaning status, and therefore can determine whether or not to perform cleaning based on the past cleaning history. For this reason, it is possible to prevent unnecessary cleaning from being performed, and to suppress the ink consumption amount due to the cleaning. For example, the type of cleaning to be performed next can be determined by acquiring the elapsed time from the previous cleaning. It is possible to select a cleaning operation corresponding to the degree of contamination and clogging of the nozzle, and it is possible to prevent excessive cleaning.

In addition, the control method of the media processing system according to the present invention that can solve the above-described problems includes a data writing unit that executes a data writing process on a recording surface of a medium, and ink ejected from nozzles of a print head. A media processing apparatus comprising: a printing unit that performs a printing process on a label surface of the medium and a cleaning process of the print head; and a conveyance unit that conveys the medium to the data writing unit or the printing unit; A method of controlling a media processing system, comprising: a host computer communicably connected to the apparatus;
A determination step of determining whether the print head needs to be cleaned;
When it is determined that the print head needs to be cleaned before sending a transport command for transporting the media to the printing unit to the media processing device, a cleaning execution command is issued before the transport command. A transmission step for transmitting to the media processing device;
The printing unit of the media processing device executes a cleaning execution step of executing the cleaning in response to the cleaning execution command.
According to the above configuration, compared to the case where the cleaning is executed after receiving the print command from the host computer after the completion of the data writing process by the data writing unit and the medium transporting process to the printing unit as in the past. Then, the first print can be accelerated. The printing unit can execute a print command issued by the host computer more quickly than before, and can prevent or reduce a decrease in the throughput of the media production process for print head cleaning.

  The present invention that can solve the above-described problems is a program for causing the host computer to execute the determination step, the transmission step, and the cleaning execution step.

It is an external appearance perspective view when the opening / closing door of the publisher of this embodiment is made into an open state. It is the perspective view seen from the front upper side of the state which removed the case of the publisher shown in FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a media processing system. It is explanatory drawing of the control method of the media processing system shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the control method of the conventional media processing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of a media processing system and a control method thereof according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, as an example of a media processing apparatus constituting the media processing system, a disk publisher (hereinafter referred to as “write” data on a disc-shaped medium such as a CD or a DVD or printing on a label surface of the medium). “Publisher”) will be described as an example.

(About publisher configuration)
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view when the publisher door of the present embodiment is in an open state, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view seen from the front upper side with the publisher case removed.
The publisher 1 is a device for writing data on a disk-shaped medium such as a CD or DVD and printing on the label surface of the medium, and includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped case 2. Opening and closing doors 3 and 4 that can be opened and closed to the left and right are attached to the front surface of the case 2. An operation surface 5 on which display lamps, operation buttons, and the like are arranged is provided at the upper left end portion of the case 2, and a mounting leg portion 6 is provided at the lower end of the case 2 so as to protrude downward. Are provided on both the left and right sides. A drawer mechanism 7 is provided at a position between the left and right legs 6.

The open / close door 3 on the right side of the front view opens and closes the opening 8 on the front side of the publisher 1 as shown in FIG. 1. For example, when an unused medium M is set through the opening 8 or is created This is a door that opens and closes when the used medium M is taken out through the opening 8.
The opening / closing door 4 on the left side when viewed from the front is for opening and closing when the ink cartridge 12 of the printer 11 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced. When the opening / closing door 4 is opened, a plurality of cartridge holders arranged in the vertical direction are provided. The cartridge mounting part 14 having 13 is exposed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the case 2 of the publisher 1, a media stacker 21 as a media storage unit capable of stacking a plurality of (for example, 50) unused media M on which data writing processing has not been performed. And a plurality of unused media M (for example, 50) or a media stacker 22 as a media storage unit for storing created media M so that the central axis of the media M is stored up and down. Has been placed. Each of the media stacker 21 and the media stacker 22 is detachable from a predetermined position.

  The upper media stacker 21 is provided with a pair of left and right arc-shaped frame plates 24 and 25, thereby allowing the medium M to be received from the upper side and accommodated in a coaxially stacked state. The operation of accommodating or replenishing the media M in the media stacker 21 can be easily performed by opening the door 3 and taking out the media stacker 21.

  The lower media stacker 22 also has the same structure, and includes a pair of left and right arc-shaped frame plates 27 and 28, thereby constituting a stacker that can receive the media M from the upper side and can be accommodated in a coaxially stacked state. Has been.

  A media transport mechanism 31 is disposed behind the media stacker 21 and the media stacker 22. The media transport mechanism 31 has a vertical guide shaft 35 that is vertically spanned between the main body frame 30 and the top plate 33 of the chassis 32. A transport arm 36 is supported on the vertical guide shaft 35 in a state where it can be raised and lowered and turned. The transport arm 36 can be moved up and down along the vertical guide shaft 35 by a drive motor 37 and can be swung left and right about the vertical guide shaft 35.

Two media drives 41, 41 that are stacked one above the other are arranged at the rear side of the upper and lower stackers 21, 22 and the media transport mechanism 31, and the printer 11 is below the media drives 41, 41. A carriage is movably arranged.
The media drive 41 has media trays 41a that can move between a data writing position on the media M and a media delivery position for receiving and delivering the media M, respectively.

  In addition, the printer 11 includes a media tray 45 that can move between a printing position where printing can be performed on the label surface of the medium M and a medium delivery position where the medium M is received and delivered.

  FIG. 2 shows a state in which the media trays 41a of the upper and lower media drives 41 are pulled out and are in the media delivery position, and a state in which the media tray 45 of the lower printer 11 is in the media delivery position on the front side. . The printer 11 is an ink jet printer, and ink cartridges 12 of various colors (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, light cyan, and light magenta in this embodiment) are used as the ink supply mechanism 60. These ink cartridges 12 are used. Is mounted on each cartridge holder 13 of the cartridge mounting portion 14 from the front.

  Here, a gap is formed between the pair of left and right frame plates 24 and 25 of the media stacker 21 and between the pair of left and right frame plates 27 and 28 of the media stacker 22 so that the transport arm 36 of the media transport mechanism 31 can move up and down. Has been. Further, a gap is opened between the upper and lower media stackers 21 and the media stacker 22 so that the transport arm 36 of the media transport mechanism 31 rotates horizontally and can be positioned directly above the media stacker 22. Further, when both the media trays 41a are pushed into the media drive 41, the transport arm 36 of the media transport mechanism 31 is lowered to access the media tray 45 at the media delivery position.

  The transport arm 36 of the media transport mechanism 31 is further below the height position of the media tray 45 with both media trays 41a positioned at the data writing position and the media tray 45 positioned at the back printing position. It is possible to descend to. Below the media delivery position of the media tray 45, there is a guide hole through which the media M released by the transport arm 36 descending to this position passes, and a guide hole in which a media stacker (separate stacker) is mounted. 65 is formed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the drawer mechanism 7 has a drawer tray 70 that can be pulled out from the main body frame 30 and opened or housed and closed at the lower side of the main body frame 30. . The drawer tray 70 is provided with a stacker portion 71 that is recessed downward. When the drawer tray 70 is in the storage position (closed position), the stacker portion 71 is located below the guide hole 65, and the center portion of the stacker portion 71 is the center of the media tray 41a and the media tray 45 at the delivery position. The axes are positioned so as to be the same. The stacker unit 71 receives the medium M inserted through the guide hole 65 and accommodates the medium M in a relatively small amount (for example, about 5 to 10 sheets). The stacker unit 71 can receive the medium M from the upper side and can be accommodated in a coaxially stacked state.

  A media stacker (separate stacker) 72 having a larger amount of media M than the stacker 71 can be attached to and detached from the stacker 71 and the guide hole 65 of the drawer tray 70 in the stored state (see FIG. 2). . The media stacker 72 also includes a pair of arc-shaped frame plates 73 and 74, which can receive a plurality of media (for example, 50) in a state in which the media M is received from the upper side and stacked coaxially. . A gap is formed between the pair of arcuate frame plates 73 and 74 so that the transport arm 36 of the media transport mechanism 31 can be moved up and down. In addition, a handle 75 is provided on the upper side of one of the frame plates 74 to be gripped by the user when attaching and detaching.

If the media stacker 72 is attached, the unused media M is taken out from the lower media stacker 22, recorded and printed by the media drive 41 and the printer 11, and then stored in the media stacker 72. be able to.
Further, for example, the upper media stacker 21 and the lower media stacker 22 are loaded with the maximum number of unused media M (50 sheets + 50 sheets), respectively, and the total number of lower media stackers 22 (50 sheets). ) Media M are sequentially processed and accommodated in the media stacker 72. Next, the entire media stacker 21 (50 sheets) of the upper media stacker 21 is sequentially processed, and the lower media stacker 22 that has become empty is processed. To house. In this manner, the maximum number of sheets (50 sheets + 50 sheets) of media M in the upper media stacker 21 and the lower media stacker 22 is processed at once (batch processing mode).

  If the media stacker 72 is removed, the unused media M is taken out from the upper media stacker 21 or the lower media stacker 22, and after data recording and printing are performed by the media drive 41 and the printer 11, It can be accommodated in the stacker portion 71 of the drawer tray 70 in the accommodated state.

  As a result, the completed medium M can be taken out from the stacker unit 71 by pulling out the drawer tray 70. That is, even during processing on the medium M, it is possible to take out one sheet or a plurality of sheets at a time from the completed medium M with the open / close door 3 closed (external discharge mode).

(About internal processing of media processing system)
Next, an internal process of the media processing system according to the present embodiment including the above-described publisher 1 and a host computer connected to the publisher 1 so as to communicate with each other will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the media processing system, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a control method of the media processing system shown in FIG.

  The media processing system 200 shown in FIG. 3 includes a host computer 100 and a publisher 1.

  The host computer 100 mainly includes an application 101, a printer driver 102, a transport command generation unit 105, a write command generation unit 106, and a transmission / reception unit 107.

  The application 101 is an application program that runs on the host computer 100, and transmits data necessary for the media production operation by the publisher 1 to the publisher 1 via the printer driver 102, the transport command generation unit 105, and the write command generation unit 106. Provide a user interface to

  The transmission / reception unit 107 is an interface for transmitting various commands, print data, recording data, and the like to the publisher 1 and receiving data transmitted from the publisher 1.

  When the printer driver 102 receives the media production instruction from the application 101, it is necessary to clean the print data generation unit 103 that generates print data and print commands in a format that can be processed by the printer 11, and the print head of the printer 11. A cleaning determination unit 104 for determining whether or not. When the cleaning determination unit 104 determines that the print head needs to be cleaned, the cleaning determination unit 104 generates a cleaning execution command and transmits it to the publisher 1 via the transmission / reception unit 107.

Upon receiving a media production instruction from the application 101, the transport command generation unit 105 generates a transport command in a format that can be processed by the media transport mechanism 31 and transmits the transport command to the publisher 1 via the transmission / reception unit 107.
The write command generation unit 106 generates a write command in a format that can be processed by the media drive 41 upon receiving a media production instruction from the application 101, and the publisher 1 through the transmission / reception unit 107 together with the recording data instructed by the application 101. Send to.

  The user performs creation and editing of print data and media production instruction on the application 101. The printer driver 102 is called by the application 101 and controls the operation of the printer 11. Similarly, the transport command generation unit 105 is called by the application 101 to directly control the operation of the media transport mechanism 31, and the write command generation unit 106 is called by the application 101 to control the operation of the media drive 41.

  The application 101 and the printer driver 102 are programs stored in advance in a ROM (not shown) of the host computer 1, and each functional unit is configured by a CPU (not shown) of the host computer 1 reading and executing the program. The

In the present embodiment, the cleaning determination unit 104 determines whether or not the print head needs to be cleaned before transmitting a transport command for causing the printer 11 to transport the medium to the publisher 1.
When the cleaning determination unit 104 determines that the print head needs to be cleaned, a cleaning execution command is generated before the transport command and transmitted to the publisher 1. The cleaning execution command generated by the cleaning determination unit 104 instructs which operation is to be associated with the cleaning.

  On the other hand, the publisher 1 incorporates three USB devices: a printer 11, a media transport mechanism 31, and a media drive 41. Each USB device incorporated in the publisher 1 is communicably connected to the host computer 100 via a hub 110 that is a branch device for connecting a plurality of USB devices to a USB port of the host computer 100.

Each USB device includes transmission / reception units 111, 131, and 141 as communication interfaces.
In addition to the transmission / reception unit 111, the printer 11 includes a print buffer 112 that develops and stores print data, a print control unit 113 that controls the operation of a print head and a carriage (not shown), and a cleaning execution that controls the print head cleaning operation. Part 114. The transmission / reception unit 111, the print control unit 113, and the cleaning execution unit 114 are configured by a CPU (not shown) executing firmware stored in a nonvolatile storage unit such as a ROM.

  The transmission / reception unit 111 is an interface for receiving print data, a print command, and the like transmitted from the host computer 100 via the hub 110. The print data temporarily stored in the transmission / reception unit 111 is expanded in the print buffer 112 and converted into printable dot data. Based on the received print command, the print control unit 113 drives the print head, carriage, and the like to print the dot data developed in the print buffer 112 on the label side of the medium.

  When receiving a cleaning execution command from the host computer 100, the cleaning execution unit 114 executes the cleaning of the print head accordingly. As the print head cleaning process, for example, various operations such as a wiping operation for wiping the print head, a main suction operation for sucking a predetermined amount of ink from the nozzles of the print head, a micro suction operation, an empty suction operation, and a pause operation can be executed. It is configured as follows.

In addition to the transmission / reception unit 131, the media conveyance mechanism 31 includes a conveyance control unit 132 that controls a medium conveyance operation by the conveyance arm 36.
The transmission / reception unit 131 is an interface unit for receiving a conveyance command transmitted from the host computer 1 via the hub 110. Based on the transport command temporarily stored in the transmission / reception unit 131, the transport control unit 132 drives the transport arm 36, a gripping mechanism that grips the media, and the like to transport the media. For example, in response to an instruction from the transport control unit 132, the transport arm 36 grips the media from the media storage unit on which the media are stacked, and the gripped media is transferred to the media tray 41a of the media drive 41 or the media tray 45 of the printer 11. Transport. Further, in response to an instruction from the transport control unit 132, the transport arm 36 picks up the media after label printing from the media tray, and transports the picked-up media to the drawer tray 70.

  The media drive 41 includes a data write control unit 142 that controls the data write operation in addition to the transmission / reception unit 141 described above. The transmission / reception unit 141 is an interface for receiving a write command transmitted from the host computer 1 via the hub 110. The data writing control unit 142 records the recording data on the recording surface of the medium.

  The transmission / reception unit 131, the conveyance control unit 132, the transmission / reception unit 141, and the data writing control unit 142 are stored in a non-volatile storage unit such as a ROM by a CPU (not shown) provided in each of the media conveyance mechanism 31 and the media drive 41. Configured by running the firmware.

(About media production processing)
Next, the flow of media production processing in the media processing system 200 of the present embodiment described above will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the flow of the media production process.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the cleaning determination unit 104 of the printer driver 102 inquires the printer 11 of the publisher 1 about the cleaning status of the print head so far when the application 101 is started (when the media processing system is started). Whether or not cleaning is necessary is determined based on the print head cleaning status transmitted in response to the inquiry.

  The cleaning execution unit 114 of the printer 11 that has received an inquiry about the print head cleaning status from the cleaning determination unit 104 receives information such as ink consumption history stored in a RAM (not shown), cleaning history, and the like as a cleaning determination unit. 104. Based on the print head cleaning status information transmitted from the printer 11, the cleaning determination unit 104 performs one of the above cleaning processing operations so as to perform cleaning corresponding to the degree of nozzle contamination and clogging. Or a cleaning execution instruction designating a plurality of combinations.

  First, when the application 101 is activated on the host computer 100, the cleaning determination unit 104 of the printer driver 102 functions to inquire the printer 11 about the print head cleaning status (step S11). The cleaning determination unit 104 determines whether or not cleaning is necessary based on the print head cleaning status responded to the inquiry (steps S12 and S13). If it is determined that cleaning is necessary, a cleaning execution command is transmitted to the printer 11 (step S14). Upon receiving the cleaning execution command, the cleaning execution unit 114 of the printer 11 executes the cleaning of the content instructed in the cleaning execution command (step S15).

  Next, when the input of recording data to be recorded on the recording surface of the medium and the input of print data to the label surface of the media are completed on the information input screen to the application 101, a media production instruction is transmitted from the application 101 and transported. The command generation unit 105 generates and transmits a transport command for the media transport mechanism 31 (step S16). In response to the transport command, the media transport mechanism 31 transports the media from the media stacker 21 to the media drive 41 (step S17). The media drive 41 that has received the media writes data according to the write command (step S18) from the write command generation unit 106 (step S19).

  When the data writing process (step S19) in the media drive 41 is completed, the transport command generation unit 105 transmits a transport command for transporting the media from the media drive 41 to the printer 11 to the media transport mechanism 31 (step S20). When the media transport mechanism 31 that has received the transport command transports the media from the media drive 41 to the printer 11 (step S21), the print data generation unit 103 transmits a label print command to the printer 11 (step S22).

Upon receiving the print command, the printer 11 performs label printing on the media based on the print data transmitted via the printer driver 102 (step S23).
Next, the transport command generation unit 105 issues a transport command for transferring the media on the printer 11 to the media stacker 22 which is a media storage unit (step S24). Based on the command, the media transport mechanism is issued. 31 conveys the media on the printer 11 to a media storage unit (for example, the media stacker 22) (step S25). Thus, a series of media production processing is completed.

In the media processing system 200 and the control method thereof according to the embodiment described above, cleaning is performed because the cleaning execution unit 114 promptly executes the cleaning execution command issued by the cleaning determination unit 104 when the application 101 is started. This time is before the transport command for transporting the media to the printer 11. For example, the processing is started before a print command is issued from the host computer 100 to the printer 11, for example, during a process of transporting media to the media drive 41 or a data writing process in the media drive 41.
Therefore, when the printer 11 receives a print command from the host computer 100, the print head is put on hold and the print head is cleaned as compared with the conventional publisher 1 that executes the print head cleaning before the print process. In addition, it is possible to reduce the time to hold the printing process received from the host computer 100 or to prevent the printing process from being held.

  Therefore, the printer 11 can execute the print command issued by the host computer 100 more quickly than before, and can prevent or reduce the decrease in the throughput of the media production process for the head cleaning of the printer 11. it can.

  The media processing system 200 of the above embodiment includes the cleaning determination unit 104 in the printer driver 102 mounted on the host computer 100, and issues a cleaning execution command when the cleaning determination unit 104 determines that head cleaning is necessary. If the printer 11 is improved, an existing printer 11 can be used as it is, and application to an existing media processing system is facilitated.

In addition, the cleaning determination unit 104 of the media processing system 200 according to the above embodiment inquires the publisher 1 about the print head cleaning status so far, and performs cleaning based on the print head cleaning status transmitted in response to the inquiry. It is determined whether or not is necessary.
Therefore, the cleaning determination unit 104 can grasp the degree of contamination and clogging of the nozzles of the print head, and can select a cleaning operation corresponding to the degree of contamination and clogging of the nozzles. And unnecessary cleaning can be prevented.

  In the above embodiment, when the cleaning execution unit 114 receives a cleaning execution command from the host computer 100, the cleaning execution unit 114 immediately executes the cleaning. However, in the media processing system according to the present invention, the cleaning execution unit 114 performs the cleaning execution processing (step S15) shown in FIG. 2 as either media transport processing to the media drive 41 or data writing processing in the media drive 41. It is good also as a structure implemented in parallel with the process.

As described above, in the media processing system and the control method for controlling the execution timing of the cleaning, the head cleaning performed by the printer 11 in response to the cleaning execution command issued by the host computer 100 is performed during the process of transporting the media to the media drive 41 or the media. This is surely started before a print command is issued from the host computer 100 to the printer 11, such as during data write processing in the drive 41.
For example, since the data writing process in the media drive 41 is generally larger than the powerful head cleaning that takes a long time, for example, when the head cleaning is started before the data writing process in the media drive 41, The cleaning surely ends before the printer 11 receives a print command from the host computer 100.

Therefore, when the printer 11 receives a print command from the host computer 100, there is no need to hold the print processing received from the host computer 100 for head cleaning.
Therefore, the printer 11 can immediately execute the print command issued by the host computer 100, and can prevent the throughput of the media production process from being lowered due to the head cleaning of the printer 11.

  Furthermore, the cleaning determination unit 104 in the above-described embodiment operates when the application 101 is started. At that time, the printer 11 is inquired about the print head cleaning status, and cleaning is performed according to the previous print head cleaning status. Although it is determined whether or not it is necessary, it may be configured to determine that the cleaning is necessary unconditionally without inquiring about the usage status of the print head when the application 101 is activated.

  Before the application 101 for processing media is started, at least the publisher 1 is in a non-operating state. When the application 101 is started, there is a high probability that the need for head cleaning is increased due to the non-operating state of the printer 11 until then.

Then, by issuing a cleaning execution command unconditionally when the application 101 is started, it becomes possible to issue a cleaning execution command earlier. Therefore, it is possible to secure a longer usable time for the head cleaning process until the printer 11 receives a print command from the application 101. Furthermore, even when performing head cleaning with a long processing time, it is possible to reliably complete the print command before receiving the print command from the application 101, and the printer 11 can effectively utilize the print idle time when the print command is not received. Thus, the head cleaning can be performed efficiently.
In addition, the control process in the cleaning determination unit 104 is facilitated, and the control program can be simplified.

  Also, when the publisher 1 is turned on, the printer 11 has been in a non-operating state for a long time before that, so there is a high probability that the need for head cleaning is increasing. Therefore, even when the publisher 1 is turned on, the cleaning determination unit 104 determines that cleaning is necessary unconditionally without inquiring about the usage status of the print head, and issues a cleaning execution command. Also good.

1: Publisher, 11: Printer, 31: Media transport mechanism, 41: Media drive, 100: Host computer, 101: Application, 102: Printer driver, 103: Print data generation unit, 104: Cleaning determination unit, 105: Transport command Generation unit 106: Write command generation unit 107: Transmission / reception unit 110: Hub 110 112 Print buffer 113 Print control unit 114 Cleaning execution unit 132 Transport control unit 142 Data writing unit

Claims (6)

A data writing unit for performing data writing processing on the recording surface of the medium, a printing unit for performing printing processing on the label surface of the media and cleaning processing of the print head by ejecting ink from nozzles of the printing head, and A media processing system comprising: a media processing device including a transport unit that transports media to the data writing unit and the printing unit; and a host computer connected to be communicable with the media processing device,
The host computer includes a cleaning determination unit that determines whether or not the print head needs to be cleaned, and the cleaning determination is performed before the transport command for transporting the medium to the printing unit is transmitted to the media processing device. When the unit determines that the print head needs to be cleaned, a cleaning execution command is transmitted to the media processing device before the transport command,
The media processing system, wherein the printing unit executes the cleaning in response to the cleaning execution command.   2. The media processing according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit performs the cleaning in parallel with any one of the media conveyance processing and the data writing processing in accordance with the cleaning execution command. system.   The media processing system according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning determination unit determines that the cleaning is necessary at least when the media processing system is activated.   The cleaning determination unit inquires of the media processing apparatus about a cleaning state of a print head, and determines whether or not cleaning is necessary based on the cleaning state transmitted in response to the inquiry. The media processing system according to 1 or 2. A data writing unit for performing data writing processing on the recording surface of the medium, a printing unit for performing printing processing on the label surface of the media and cleaning processing of the print head by ejecting ink from nozzles of the printing head, and A control method for a media processing system, comprising: a media processing device that includes a transport unit that transports media to the data writing unit and the printing unit; and a host computer that is communicably connected to the media processing device. And
A determination step of determining whether the print head needs to be cleaned;
When it is determined that the print head needs to be cleaned before sending a transport command for transporting the media to the printing unit to the media processing device, a cleaning execution command is issued before the transport command. A transmission step for transmitting to the media processing device;
A control method of a media processing system, wherein a printing unit of the media processing device executes a cleaning execution step of executing the cleaning in response to the cleaning execution command.   A program for causing the host computer to execute the determination step, the transmission step, and the cleaning execution step according to claim 5.

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