JP2011178114A - Operation processing device, and method for detecting displacement during transfer of medium in the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an operation processing device that reduces processing time required for operations of the whole device, and a method for detecting displacement during transfer of a medium in the same. <P>SOLUTION: A control part controls movement of a carrier 21 in an operation processing device. The control part is configured as follows. When a medium 25 is set in a predetermined position, the control part detects positions (d, e) of both ends in a printing digit direction of the medium 25, and allows a serial printing mechanism to print on the medium 25 so as to start transfer of the medium. The control part moves the carrier 21 over a set distance, which is smaller than the medium width in a printing digit direction, from the initial positions (d, e) of both ends of the medium 25 at a predetermined reference timing for the displacement of both ends. Then, the control part allows a sensor 30 to detect again positions (f, g) of the ends so as to determine whether or not a difference between the positions (d, f) and a difference between the positions (e, g) are within an allowable distance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a business processing apparatus and a method for detecting misalignment when a medium is transported in the business processing apparatus.

  In the passbook printer, the print head performs main scanning along the longitudinal direction of the platen, and the needle protrudes from the tip of the print head, and printing is performed on the passbook on the platen via the ink ribbon. When the print head finishes printing in the main scanning direction, which is the direction in which character strings are arranged, the platen is moved in the sub-scanning direction, which is the print feed direction, and the passbook is sub-scanned.

  There are types of passbook printers in which no guide is provided in the passbook conveyance path that continues from the insertion port to the print start position inside the printer. In recent years, when the passbook is transported to the print start position, the passbook position in the width direction of the insertion slot when it is inserted into the insertion slot is recognized without contacting the passbook against the guide wall, and the passbook position is used as a reference for printing start. A passbook printer is required.

  The passbook printer performs printing for both vertical and horizontal passbooks with these passbook pages spread. Regardless of whether the bankbook to be spread is a horizontal bankbook or a vertical bankbook, after the bankbook is inserted from the insertion slot, this bankbook is transported on the transport path with no guides at both ends in the bankbook width direction. The Since the passbook is transported without being regulated or narrowed by the guide, there is a possibility that skew may occur in the passbook being transported. When the platen roller passes through stepped parts such as the page thickness that can be formed at the top, bottom, left, and right edges of the passbook, and the crease at the center of the passbook, especially during page turning processing of the passbook, The degree of skew increases. Regardless of whether the bankbook is a vertical type or a horizontal type, after the bankbook is conveyed to a predetermined position, the bankbook printer detects the positions of the two ends of the left end and the right end in the main scanning direction. After the page turning process or when the platen roller climbs over the stepped portion, the passbook printer needs to detect whether or not the position of both ends of the passbook has shifted.

  Therefore, conventionally, the position of one end of the recording paper in the main scanning direction is detected, and the position of the other end is obtained from this position and the width size of the recording sheet stored in advance to obtain the print start position. A printing apparatus has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Further, an image forming apparatus has been proposed in which after detecting one end portion, the carriage is moved from this detection position to detect the other end portion, and the positions of both end portions are obtained to obtain the print start position. (For example, refer to Patent Document 2).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a printing apparatus and a printing method capable of aligning printing start positions on both sides of a printing medium with a simple algorithm. The image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 2 detects both ends of the recorded passbook again during printing, and detects the positions of both ends when the re-detected end positions are shifted. This image forming apparatus has a sensor for detecting the end of the passbook, scans the passbook at the start of printing and during printing, detects both ends of the passbook, and copes with deviations that occur when the passbook is conveyed. .

JP 2009-073052 A JP 2008-238700 A

  However, in the above-described prior art, the bankbook is executed while performing various tasks such as dot printing, optical reading of images, reading of magnetic information, page turning, and conveyance of media (hereinafter, these may be abbreviated as jobs). The left end and the right end of the are detected. As the number of times of detecting the edge of the medium increases, the overall processing time of the business also increases. In the image forming apparatus described in Patent Literature 2, the carriage is moved in the entire reciprocating range, both ends of the recording paper are detected, the recording paper is conveyed by a predetermined amount, and both ends are redetected. There is a problem that it takes time until the passbook is discharged from the insertion / ejection slot after the passbook is inserted into the apparatus and printed. Printing operations cannot be performed while the print head is moving. Since the frequency of detection is high, the processing time for operations other than printing operations is long. In particular, when the number of print lines is large, processing time is delayed. It takes a long time until the user inserts the bankbook into the insertion / ejection slot and then ejects it.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, the present invention makes it possible to reduce the processing time required for the operation of the entire apparatus, such as serial printing, in a type of apparatus having a serial printing mechanism that prints by reciprocating the print head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a business processing apparatus and a method for detecting misalignment when a medium is transported in the business processing apparatus.

  In order to solve such a problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, a transport unit that transports a medium, a carrier that reciprocates in a printing digit direction that intersects the transport direction of the medium by the transport unit, A serial print mechanism having a mounted print head, a platen disposed opposite to the print head, and a drive mechanism for reciprocating the print head in the print digit direction via the carrier along the platen; A sensor that is provided on the carrier of the printing mechanism and detects the position of at least one end of the medium in the print digit direction, and a reference that is determined in advance as causing a displacement of the one end detected by the sensor. A timing generator that outputs a trigger signal at timing, and the sensor is operated by the trigger signal from the timing generator, And a controller for controlling the movement of the carrier, and when receiving the trigger signal, the controller compares the carrier from the initial position of the one end with the media width in the print digit direction. After moving a small set distance, the sensor re-detects the position of the one end and determines whether the difference between the re-detected position and the first position is within an allowable distance. A business processing device is provided.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, (a) a carrier that reciprocates in a printing digit direction that intersects the medium conveyance direction, a printing head mounted on the carrier, and a platen disposed opposite to the printing head. And a sensor for the carrier of the serial printing mechanism having a drive mechanism for reciprocating the print head along the platen in the print digit direction via the carrier, and (b) control for controlling movement of the carrier When the medium is set at a predetermined position downstream in the medium conveying direction, the sensor causes the sensor to detect the position of at least one of the both ends of the medium in the print digit direction, and (c) The control unit causes the serial printing mechanism to perform printing on the medium to start medium conveyance, and (d) the control unit determines in advance that a displacement of the one end portion occurs. At a reference timing, the carrier is moved from the initial position of the one end of the medium by a set distance smaller than the medium width in the print digit direction, and the sensor is moved to the position of the one end. (E) the control unit determines whether or not a difference between the re-detected position and the first position is within an allowable distance. A method for detecting misalignment during conveyance is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the processing time required for the entire work performed by the apparatus for the medium.

It is a principal part block diagram of the information processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) is a top view of a horizontal medium in a spread state, and (b) is a top view of a vertical medium in a spread state. It is a front view of a carrier. It is a principal part perspective view of a serial printing mechanism. It is a figure which shows the correspondence of the position of two places detected, and the edge part of a medium. It is a block diagram of a control system. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting a positional deviation of an end portion of a medium. It is the figure which looked at the medium of the state pulled in to the predetermined position from upper direction. It is the figure which looked at the medium in the middle of acquiring the left end and the right end from the sensor from the upper part. It is the figure which looked at the medium in the midst of acquiring the upper end and the lower end again at the reference timing from above.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a business processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a positional deviation detection method when a medium is transported in the business processing apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  A business processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a device that performs a plurality of business operations on a booklet-shaped print medium, such as conveyance in the device, printing, reading of magnetic information and electronic information, and page turning. . This business processing apparatus is an apparatus including a serial dot printer (serial dot impact printer) having a function of performing serial printing. The business processing device is, for example, a passbook printer that performs printing on a booklet-like passbook.

  In the business processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the positional deviation detection method at the time of transporting a medium is orthogonal to the passbook transport direction when the passbook printer is transporting the passbook in a spread state in the passbook transport direction. This is a method for detecting a position shift at both ends of the bankbook in the bankbook width direction, that is, at least one of the left end and the right end. In this misalignment detection method, when the passbook printer detects misalignment at both ends in the main scanning direction of the passbook at a predetermined reference timing, the passbook is in a misaligned state without moving either the print head or the passbook. In addition, the position of the first character of the print data is corrected and matched. Printing is continued by correcting the head character position in the print data by using the positional relationship between the head and the passbook after the positional deviation has occurred, thereby speeding up the entire business process.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. The figure shows a side cross section of the bankbook printer 1 as viewed from a direction orthogonal to the bankbook conveyance direction.

  The passbook printer 1 includes an insertion / ejection port 11 for inserting and ejecting a passbook, an insertion / ejection port 12 for inserting and ejecting slips on which transaction contents are printed, transport paths 15, 16, and 17, A plurality of conveying roller pairs 19 (conveying units) provided in the conveying paths 15, 16, and 17 and a depth side of the merging part of the conveying paths 15 and 16, reading the passbook information and character recognition by the read image And an optical scanner / OCR device (optical scanner and OCR device) 20.

  Further, the passbook printer 1 has a carrier 21 having a dot impact type print head 23 provided downstream in the carrying direction of the passbook, which is carried by the carrying roller pair 19, and sandwiches the print head 23 and the carrying path 17. , A magnetic processing unit 37 that reads magnetic data from the magnetic stripe of the passbook and writes magnetic data to the magnetic stripe, a page turning mechanism 35 that turns the page of the booklet passbook, A communication unit 36 that communicates with a host device such as a host computer, a ROM 38 that stores a print position correction program, and a control unit 40 that controls these units are provided.

  When the light-sensitive insertion sensor 39 detects that the bankbook has been inserted into the insertion / ejection port 11, the bankbook printer 1 transports the bankbook to the transport path 17 common to the transport paths 15 and 16, and The printing process is performed by retracting to a predetermined position and reciprocating the print head 23 in a direction orthogonal to the book transport direction. For example, a horizontal passbook as shown in FIG. In the horizontal passbook, each page of the spread (upper page / lower page) is arranged in the passbook transport direction. When the passbook in the spread state is inserted from the outside of the housing into the horizontal opening of the insertion / ejection port 11, the passbook printer 1 draws the horizontal passbook into the housing while keeping the stitches substantially perpendicular to the book transport direction.

A lower pedestal 13 is formed at a position corresponding to the lower insertion / ejection port 11, and an upper pedestal 14 is formed at a position corresponding to the insertion / ejection port 12. The user inserts a bankbook along the upper surface of the lower pedestal 13. A passbook discharged from the inside of the apparatus to the outside of the apparatus is placed on the upper surface of the lower pedestal 13.
A conveyance path 15 extending in the apparatus depth direction is continuously formed in the insertion / ejection port 11, and a conveyance path 16 extending in the depth direction is also formed continuously in the upper insertion / ejection port 12. The conveyance path surface of the conveyance path 16 having a slope with respect to the horizontal conveyance path surface of the conveyance path 15 merges at an inclination angle, and the conveyance path 17 after merging further extends to the rear of the apparatus. A blade 18 that selectively switches the transport paths 15 and 16 with respect to the transport path 17 is provided at the transport path junction. The blade 18 is switched by the control unit 40 in the passbook transport path.

  A plurality of conveyance roller pairs 19 convey the bankbook along these conveyance paths 15, 16, and 17. Each of the upper rollers is a drive roller that can rotate forward and backward, and each of the lower rollers is a rotatable driven roller that is disposed to face each of the drive rollers. The driving roller and the driven roller constitute a pair of conveying rollers 19. Each conveyance roller pair 19 guides a passbook toward the nip between the driving roller and the driven roller of another adjacent conveyance roller pair 19. The pair of transport rollers 19 reciprocates on the same transport path while holding the passbooks having different thicknesses by the pair of transport rollers 19. These drive rollers use a stepping motor (not shown) as a drive source. When each drive roller rotates in both forward and reverse directions, the transport roller pair 19 transports the bankbook set on the lower pedestal 13 toward the inside of the apparatus or in the discharge direction.

  A control unit 40 having a carrier 21, a platen 26, and a ROM 38 is provided from upstream to downstream of the transport path 17. The digit length direction of the platen 26 is the print digit direction. The ROM 38 also stores a passbook type, a passbook shape for each passbook type, a size, a scanning direction, a print start position, printed range information, and the like. The controller 40 rotates the conveyance roller pair 19 to sub-scan the passbook and move the print head 23 in the main scanning direction, and serially transfers print data from the host device to the print head 23. The control unit 40 acquires the type of passbook based on character information such as the financial institution name of the passbook detected by the optical scanner / OCR device 20. The control unit 40 compares the optically acquired passbook type with the passbook type obtained by looking up the passbook information in the ROM 38 from the magnetically read data, and can handle the inserted passbook. It is determined whether or not.

  FIG. 3 is a front view of the carrier 21. The left-right direction in the figure represents the main scanning direction. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an essential part of the serial printing mechanism. FIG. 4 shows the positional relationship between the print head 23 and the platen 26. Reference numeral 29 in FIG. 4 denotes a serial printing mechanism. A sensor 30 is provided on the carrier 21 of the serial printing mechanism 29 and detects the presence / absence of the end of the bankbook. The mounting position of the sensor 30 is an example, and various positions can be selected.

  In FIG. 3, when the driving force is transmitted to the carrier 21, the carrier 21 is moved in the main scanning direction. The carrier 21 is provided with a head holder 22, and an impact type print head 23 is attached via the head holder 22. The print head 23 has a nose 24, and a plurality of needles selectively protrude from the nose tip 24a by a drive signal, and dots are formed in the passbook 25 by the impact force of the needles via the ink ribbon. To do. Characters, images, and the like are printed by the movement in the main scanning direction by the carrier 21 and the movement in the sub-scanning direction of the bankbook 25 by the driving roller 19a and the driven roller 19b. A vertically swinging platen 26 is disposed below the print head 23, and the upper surface of the platen 26 holds the passbook 25 on the non-printing surface side. The print head 23 is urged toward the platen 26 by the elastic force of a compression spring 27 attached in the carrier 21. The platen 26 is biased upward by the elastic restoring force of the spring, and a stopper is provided in a range in which the platen 26 moves in the biasing direction. The stopper limits the amount of displacement of the platen 26 upward. ing.

  Further, two platen rollers 28 are attached to the nose 24 of the print head 23 so that the respective roller shafts are parallel to the passbook conveyance direction. Each platen roller 28 sets an interval between the nose tip 24 a and the bankbook 25 to an interval at which an appropriate contact pressure can be obtained between each roller outer peripheral surface and the bankbook 25. As the platen roller 28 rotates forward and backward, the print head 23 is displaced in the main scanning direction. Each of the two lower platen rollers 28 faces the upper surface side of the platen 26. The height of each roller outer peripheral lower surface is held at a position protruding downward from the lower surface of the nose tip 24a. The protrusion amount is set to a predetermined value suitable for printing. The platen roller 28 receives the elastic restoring force of the compression spring 27 and holds the platen 26 in contact with the platen 26 or the bankbook 25, whereby the distance between the nose tip 24a and the bankbook 25 is always kept at a distance suitable for printing. It has come to droop.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the girder length direction of the platen 26, the axial length direction of the carrier shaft 32, and the axial length direction of the guide shaft 31 are attached to the frame so that they are parallel to each other. The carrier 21 is slidably supported on the carrier shaft 32 and the guide shaft 31. The carrier 21 can reciprocate by belt driving or the like. The carrier 21 is provided so as to be movable in the digit length direction of the platen 26, and the print head 23 is mounted on the carrier 21 so as to face the platen 26.

  A plate (not shown) for pressing the bankbook 25 against the platen 26 is provided at the lower end of the nose tip 24a, and an ink ribbon is supplied into the gap between the plate and the bankbook 25. The needle of the print head 23 protrudes from an opening window formed at the center of the plate.

  One needle is a dot element that prints one pixel. The plurality of needles selectively protrude and retract within the nose 24. An example of the xy plane will be described. The print head 23 is configured by arranging a plurality of needles in a row in the y-axis direction and providing two or more needle rows composed of the plurality of needles in the x-axis direction. . The control unit 40 stores print data serially received from the host device via the communication unit 36 in the RAM 44. The control unit 40 analyzes the serial reception data and develops it into dot pattern data, and assigns black dots and white dots corresponding to the dot pattern. The control unit 40 reads the dot row data of the nth row from the print buffer, outputs this dot row data to the print head 23, and causes the print head 23 to print one vertical column. Similarly, the print head 23 prints the remaining dot row data of a plurality of rows and prints one character. Further, the print head 23 prints a plurality of characters in the print digit direction.

  When the sensor 30 detects a deviation of the printing position in the printing digit direction, the CPU of the control unit 40 activates a correction program from the ROM 38 and gives a deviation amount to the correction program. The correction program corrects the positional deviation of the print data in the RAM 44 based on the deviation amount. The CPU sends the corrected dot row data to the print head 23.

  The sensor 30 is a light projecting / receiving element for detecting the end of the bankbook. The sensor 30 includes a light emitting diode 33 that irradiates a light beam downward, a photodiode 34 that receives reflected light from a target of the light beam, and an amplifier circuit that amplifies the photodiode output. The control unit 40 refers to the light intensity threshold value for determining the magnitude of the reflected light intensity from the ROM 38, and detects the position of at least one of the left end and the right end.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the correspondence between the two detected positions and the paper edge portion of the passbook. The above described symbols represent the same elements. The left-right direction represents the main scanning direction. The figure shows an example in which the platen 26 is viewed from the upstream side to the downstream side in the passbook conveyance direction on the conveyance path. The bankbook 25 is in a spread state.

  Assuming that the home position of the print head 23 is the left end, the position of the passbook paper end closer to the left end as shown in FIG. 5A and the passbook paper farther from the left end as shown in FIG. The end position is detected by the sensor 30. In the horizontal passbook, the left detection position represents the left end of the passbook 25 as shown in FIGS. The detection position on the right side represents the right end of the bankbook 25. Prior to the printing operation, the bankbook printer 1 causes the carrier 21 to travel, causes the sensor 30 to detect both sides of the bankbook 25, determines the bankbook width of the bankbook 25, and determines the printable area of the bankbook 25. Yes.

  In the passbook printer 1, the position shift detection method when the passbook 25 is transported is to first measure the positions of one end and the other end of the passbook 25 with the passbook printer 1 in a spread state. The positions of both end portions of the bankbook 25 are measured again at the determined reference timing, and the first determined both end positions are compared with the remeasured both end positions.

  The reference timing refers to a timing at which an event in which the passbook 25 is likely to be misaligned, such as when the platen roller 28 passes through the fold of the passbook 25 or when the passbook page is turned by the page turning mechanism 35, is referred to. The time when the roller rides on the crease is specified and specified in advance as a criterion for determining whether or not there is a deviation. Further, as the reference timing, it is defined when the conveyance direction of the bankbook 25 is reversed reversely by the conveyance roller pair 19, when a predetermined amount is conveyed, and when the reversal and conveyance are performed several times. The reference timing is also defined when the platen roller 28 passes through a step portion having a page thickness generated by repeated page turning.

  In this embodiment, the passbook printer 1 uses these events as triggers for starting the edge redetection process. The control unit 40 also functions as a timing generation unit that outputs a trigger signal. A timing generation unit including the CPU 41, the ROM 38, and the RAM 44 outputs a trigger signal at a reference timing that is determined in advance as a positional shift of at least one end portion occurs.

  In the initial position detection, the carrier 21 moves in the main scanning direction over a distance exceeding the passbook width. Regarding the right end, when the control unit 40 detects the right end position again, the first right end detection position is set as a starting point, and the carrier 21 is moved to the right or left side in the main scanning direction by a minute distance from the starting point. Also for the left end, the control unit 40 starts from the first left end detection position, and when detecting the left end position again, moves the carrier 21 to the right or left in the main scanning direction by a minute distance from this start point. In the present embodiment, by using one of the right end and the left end, the control unit 40 acquires the positions of both ends of the bankbook 25 when redetected. Using both the right end and the left end, the control unit 40 may acquire the positions of both end portions of the passbook 25 when re-detected.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control system. The above described symbols represent the same elements. The control unit 40 includes a CPU 41 that centrally controls each unit of the passbook printer 1, a bus line 42 connected to the CPU 41, a ROM 38, a RAM 44 that is used as a work area for the CPU 41, and commands and print data from the host device 47. And an interface 46 for receiving.

  Specifically, the ROM 38 has a bankbook type such as vertical type, horizontal type, and number, distances between the upper end, lower end, left end and right end of the passbook 25, upper end of the upper page of the passbook in the spread state, lower end of the lower page, print Forbidden band, stitch area, etc. are stored. The ROM 38 also stores a correction program.

  The CPU 41 constructs a counter 45 in the RAM 44 and detects the position of the carrier 21 on the same page of the bankbook 25 from the count value of the counter 45. A position to be printed by the print head 23 is detected. For example, the CPU 41 detects the position of the carrier 21 in the print digit direction by counting the number of pulses output from the carriage motor 52 with the counter 45.

  The control unit 40 is a sensor control circuit 48 for controlling various sensors including an insertion sensor 39 that senses insertion of a bankbook, and a drive motor 51 and a drive source for the carrier 21 that serve as a power source for the transport roller pair 19. A motor drive circuit 50 that controls the carriage motor 52 and a print head control circuit 53 that controls the print head 23 are connected. These transport motor 51, carriage motor 52, motor drive circuit 50, guide shaft 31, carrier shaft 32, belt, and driving force transmission member in FIG. 4 constitute a drive mechanism.

  A method for the CPU 41 to control the print head 23 of the passbook printer 1 having the above-described configuration will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a method of detecting the positional deviation of the end portion of the bankbook 25.

  In step A <b> 1, the insertion sensor 39 detects that the bankbook 25 has been inserted from an arbitrary position of the insertion / ejection port 11. When inserting the horizontal passbook, the binding portion is made parallel to the opening width of the insertion / ejection port 11 so that the binding portion is orthogonal to the passbook transport direction.

  In step A2, the control unit 40 rotates each of the plurality of conveyance roller pairs 19, conveys the bankbook 25, and pulls the bankbook 25 to a printable position. Upon detection, the control unit 40 conveys the passbook 25 to the vicinity of the position immediately below the print header 23 so that the number of steps of the stepping motor in the counter 45 reaches the setting step, and determines the position.

  In step A2, the optical scanner / OCR device 20 scans the cover of the bankbook 25 and generates image information obtained by copying the format frame. The magnetic processing unit 37 reads information from the magnetic stripe. The optical information and the magnetically obtained information are checked, and the type of the passbook 25 is specified. The line position on the page where printing should start is obtained. Thereafter, the bankbook 25 is conveyed from the information reading position to the printing start position. Loading is complete.

  Subsequently, in step A3, the control unit 40 executes detection processing of both the left end and right end passbook of the passbook 25. FIG. 8 is a view of the bankbook 25 in a state where it is drawn to a predetermined position as viewed from above. In the figure, a sensor 30 attached to the carrier 21 is added. 17A represents the end of the conveyance path 17 at the conveyance path width. The top and bottom are the sub-scanning direction, and the left and right are the main scanning direction. The line width extending in the left-right direction schematically represents the edge of the platen 26. The above described symbols represent the same elements.

  The carrier 21 equipped with the sensor 30 capable of detecting the bankbook 25 is stopped at the home position. The control unit 40 outputs a command, and moves the carrier 21 from one end to the other end with the transport path width of the transport path 17. The light emitting diode 33 of the sensor 30 irradiates light at a predetermined incident angle to the conveyance path surface, and the photodiode 34 receives the reflected light of the light reflected by the conveyance path surface at a light receiving angle substantially equal to this incident angle.

  FIG. 9 is a view of the bankbook 25 in the middle when the left end and the right end are acquired by the sensor 30 as viewed from above. The above described symbols represent the same elements. The controller 40 sequentially scans the light intensity signal along the main scanning direction, and detects a position where the amount of change in intensity is large as the edge position.

  At this time, the position in the main scanning direction at the time when the bankbook 25 starts to be detected is point A (where d is attached), and the position in the main scanning direction when the bankbook 25 is no longer detected is B. The control unit 40 holds these two positions as points (where e is attached). These points A and B are determined as the ends of the bankbook 25, and the positional relationship between the bankbook 25 and the main body becomes clear.

  In step A4 in FIG. 7, the control unit 40 develops the print data from the host device 47 in the RAM 44, analyzes the print position, and then causes the print head 23 to perform a print job. When the print head 23 prints one line of characters, the control unit 40 drives the motor to send the bankbook 25 by a distance of one line in the sub-scanning direction.

  In step A5, during printing, the control unit 40 continues to monitor whether or not an event for starting the edge detection process has occurred at a predetermined reference timing (No route).

  For example, when the trigger is applied when the platen 26 passes through the fold of the bankbook 25, the CPU 41 detects that the bankbook 25 has been sub-scanned to the position of the fold when the counter value of the counter 45 reaches the set distance. To do. Here, as the counter value, the distance to the crease is obtained from the type of the passbook 25 acquired first and the information in the ROM 38, and this distance is set in the counter 45.

  In step A5, the Yes route is passed, and in step A6, the control unit 40 detects the two end positions of the bankbook 25 again.

  FIG. 10 is a view of the bankbook 25 from the upper side in which the upper end and the lower end are acquired again at the reference timing. d represents point A. e represents the B point. f represents the A ′ point. g represents a point B ′. The carrier 21 moves outside the range between the first two points A and B (beyond the carrier movement distance corresponding to the distance between the first two detection positions), and the main scanning direction of the bankbook 25 is changed. Positions A ′ and B ′ at both ends of the are respectively detected. The carrier 21 moves a minute distance from the point B to the point B ′ without moving a long distance from the end of the conveyance path to the point B ′.

  In step A7, the control unit 40 compares the detected position of one end with the position of the same end obtained first, and the magnitude of the difference between these positions in the main scanning direction is determined. Then, it is determined whether or not it is within a predetermined allowable range. The allowable range is determined by experiments and tests.

  When the difference is within the allowable range, the control unit 40 determines that the passbook 25 is not misaligned in the sub-scanning direction, or the end portion position that requires misalignment correction is not shifted. Through the No route of step A7, the control unit 40 determines that the relative positional relationship between the print head 23 and the bankbook 25 holds the initial positional relationship. In step A8, the passbook printer 1 prints the print data from the host device 47 as it is. The process ends when printing is finished.

  In step A7, as shown in FIG. 10, when the detected A ′ point is shifted from the original A point detected for the first time by a predetermined value or more, the CPU 41 is misaligned in the bankbook 25. Or it judges that it has changed. Alternatively, when the detected point B ′ deviates from the original point B by a set value or more, the CPU 41 detects a positional deviation. That is, the control unit 40 detects that one of the left end and the right end is shifted by a set amount or more. In addition, when one of the A ′ point and the B ′ point cannot be detected, the CPU 41 determines that the positional deviation has occurred or is deformed.

  In this case, the Yes route is passed in step A7, and in step A9, the control unit 40 shifts the print position of the print data in the main scanning direction when it is sent from the RAM 44 to the print head 23. The correction program corrects the starting position of the print data before being sent to the print head 23 by an amount corresponding to the shift of the passbook 25 and outputs the corrected print data to the print head 23.

  In other words, the control unit 40 does not move the hardware side such as moving the print head 23 or driving the platen 26. The controller 40 shifts the head position of the print data in the main scanning direction by software processing in accordance with the positional relationship between the passbook 25 and the print head 23 after the positional deviation is detected. The control unit 40 takes into account the deviation, and sends print data to the print head 23 in which the print position of data to be printed is shifted in the main scanning direction. If a positional deviation has occurred, the amount of deviation is changed by the print data sending side. The passbook printer 1 does not return the position of the carrier 21 to the original position. The software corrects the leading position of the print data so that it matches the target print start position at the passbook position after the misalignment.

  In step A10, the control unit 40 resumes printing from the corrected printing position. For example, when the left end of one passbook is shifted by 10 mm from the original position, the position shifted by 10 mm is set as the left end of the passbook, and printing is started from there. After such a control is detected, the control unit 40 continues.

  In step A5, the control unit 40 may use another event to determine whether or not a positional shift has occurred. The page turning mechanism 35 turns the bankbook 25 after the printing of the lower page of the two upper and lower facing pages of the bankbook 25 is completed. Immediately after this page turning, the control unit 40 performs the process of step A6. For example, the amount of print data may be an amount printed over a plurality of pages. In one printing operation, the first half of the crease is printed, and then the second half is printed from the fold. For example, printing may extend from the first half to the second half of the upper and lower pages. When printing a large amount of data exceeding several pages, printing is continued from the upper page to the lower page. In this case, a difference occurs in the page thickness between the upper and lower sides of the spread page. When a step is generated and printing is continued after returning from the lower page to the higher page, the platen roller 28 rides on the paper surface. For this reason, the time when the crease roller is straddled is set as a criterion. Further, when turning the bankbook 25, the pagebook 25 is transported and then a page turning process is performed, and it returns to the lower side of the print head 23. Since the movement amount of the bankbook 25 is large, the detection process is executed even when the page turning process occurs.

  As described above, the passbook printer 1 executes the detection process at the timing when the position shift of the passbook 25 specified in advance is likely to occur at the time of the division of the printing job. When severe printing conditions are imposed on the passbook printer 1, the passbook printer 1 increases the frequency of detection processing.

  Comparing the bankbook printer 1 according to the present embodiment with the bankbook printer according to the conventional example, the CPU 41 reads the position of the point A detected for the first time in the bankbook printer 1, and the carrier 21 is set to the left or right by a set distance from this point A. I try to move it. Alternatively, the CPU 41 moves the carrier 21 left or right by a set distance from the position of point B. The apparatus according to the conventional example is different from the passbook printer 1 according to the present embodiment that detects the position of only one of both ends in that the position of both ends of the recording paper is always detected.

  Even if the passbook printer 1 detects both the points A and B so that the detection processing conditions are the same, the passbook printer 1 has advantages over the conventional example. That is, in the passbook printer according to the conventional example, when detecting the position of both ends of the recording paper, the end detection sensor detects the end position, and moves the carriage in the entire reciprocating range to move the end of the recording paper. Discovery is running. In the conventional example, the movement distance of the carriage is long, so that the movement distance of the carrier 21 is different from the passbook printer 1 which requires only a set distance from the point A or B acquired for the first time.

  Even if the passbook printer 1 detects both the points A and B so that the detection processing conditions are the same, the passbook printer 1 still has advantages over the conventional example. That is, the passbook printer according to the conventional example starts the edge detection process only when a predetermined event occurs in that the detection process is performed many times, such as performing edge detection again and again. This is different from this bankbook printer 1.

  In the passbook printer 1, since the main body side stores and understands the position of the first passbook 25, when measuring the end portion, it is from a point slightly away from the point A or B that is measured once and stored. Just start scanning. By setting a small amount of movement as the distance from the point A or B that was acquired and stored for the first time, the movement distance of the carrier 21 is reduced when the A ′ point or B ′ point is measured again. I can keep it.

  The positional deviation detection method according to the present embodiment has an advantage that the detection time is shortened. If the carrier 21 is scanned again from a position slightly separated from the point A or B measured once, the position of the point A ′ or B ′ can be known. It is not necessary to move the carrier 21 from the left end of the transport path to the position of point A ′ or B ′. Therefore, the processing time required for edge detection can be reduced. Compared with the passbook printer 1 in the situation where there are no guide walls on both sides of the conveyance path, the processing time is advantageous.

  As described above, the passbook printer 1 detects the position of at least one of the left and right passbook ends in the main scanning direction of the passbook 25, and then determines another position away from this position at a timing at which the passbook 25 is likely to be misaligned. Since the carrier 21 scans again as the other end, the processing time can be shortened.

  The time required for scanning the carrier 21 in the main scanning direction can be reduced. Since the passbook printer 1 cannot perform the printing job while the bankbook 25 is being conveyed in the sub-scanning direction, shortening the printing time in the main scanning direction shortens the time from insertion to ejection of the bankbook 25. Make it possible. Even if the passbook printer 1 detects the positions of both ends of the passbook 25 or increases the frequency of executing the detection process, it is possible to prevent the processing time of the entire business from increasing.

  The sensor 30 detects in a device that has a carrier 21 having a sensor 30 that can detect the bankbook 25 and performs business without using a guide or width adjustment even if the bankbook 25 is inserted from any position of the insertion / ejection port 11. By using the positional information on both ends of the passbook 25, it is possible to detect the deviation of the passbook 25 when the passbook 25 is transported. By performing the work in accordance with the designated determination standard, such as after the passbook 25 is likely to be shifted as the reference timing, it is possible to suppress an increase in processing time for position detection.

  In this way, according to the information processing apparatus and the printing medium misalignment detection method of the apparatus according to the present embodiment, the guide for correcting the posture of the bankbook 25 that has a possibility of skewing in the conveyance path 15 or the like. It is possible to reduce the processing time required for the operation of the entire apparatus, such as printing, without providing a member for regulation.

  A carriage in the main scanning direction is detected by detecting the position of one side edge in the main scanning direction of the recording paper in the main scanning direction and rescanning the carriage with the position apart from the position as the other side edge. This makes it possible to reduce the amount of travel required for scanning. It is possible to reduce the processing time required for operations such as overall printing.

  Since the width size information held in advance and the detection position of one side edge are stored and the scanning of the carriage is resumed, the scanning start position can be determined only by the position of one end of the recording paper. Become.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. In the above embodiment, the business processing apparatus is the passbook printer 1, but the present invention is applicable to an apparatus having a serial printing mechanism for printing on a medium.

  In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of components disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment.

  The passbook printer 1 can be used for either a printer incorporated in another device such as an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) or a CD (Cash Dispenser), or a printer independent of the other device. is there.

  In the above embodiment, a passbook is used as a medium, but it can also be used for forms having a thickness cut to a predetermined width. The above embodiment is an example of a horizontal passbook, but as shown in FIG. 2B, a passbook printer can use a vertical passbook having stitches along the transport direction. In inserting the vertical passbook, the binding portion is orthogonal to the opening width of the insertion / ejection port 11 so that the binding portion is parallel to the passbook conveyance direction. In this case, the passbook printer 1 detects the positions of both ends of the passbook in the direction orthogonal to the passbook transport direction by loading and performs the same processing as in the above example.

  The information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention may be used as a composite form processing unit that processes different forms of booklets such as paper and passbooks such as payment forms. For example, when the printing medium is a continuous medium including a number of pages, when printing of each page is completed, it is checked whether or not a paper misalignment has occurred once before printing the next page.

  The processing order for the passbook 25 varies depending on the type of business in which the passbook printer 1 is used and the user's input operation. The advantage of the present invention is not impaired at all with respect to the invention which is implemented by changing the arrangement of optical information reading, magnetic processing, page turning processing, printing processing and the like.

  In this embodiment, the function for carrying out the invention is recorded in advance in the apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same function may be downloaded from the network to the apparatus. May be installed in the apparatus. The recording passbook may be in any form as long as it is a recording passbook that can store programs such as Blu-ray (registered trademark) and CD-ROM and can be read by the apparatus. In addition, the function obtained by installing or downloading in advance may be realized in cooperation with an OS (operating system) inside the apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Passbook printer (business processing apparatus), 11 ... Insertion / ejection port (insertion port), 12 ... Insertion / ejection port, 13 ... Lower base, 14 ... Upper base, 15, 16, 17 ... Conveyance path, 17A ... Conveyance path 18 ... blade, 19 ... conveying roller pair, 19a ... driving roller, 19b ... driven roller, 20 ... optical scanner / OCR device, 21 ... carrier, 22 ... head holder, 23 ... print head, 24 ... nose, 24a ... Nose tip, 25 ... Passbook (medium), 26 ... Platen, 27 ... Compression spring, 28 ... Platen roller, 29 ... Serial printing mechanism, 30 ... Sensor, 31 ... Guide shaft, 32 ... Carrier shaft, 33 ... Light emitting diode , 34 ... Photodiode, 35 ... Page turning mechanism, 36 ... Communication unit 37 ... Magnetic processing unit, 38 ... ROM, 39 ... Insertion sensor, 40 ... Control unit, 41 ... CP , 42 ... bus line, 44 ... RAM, 45 ... counter, 46 ... interface, 47 ... host device, 48 ... sensor control circuit, 50 ... motor drive circuit, 51 ... transport motor, 52 ... carriage motor, 53 ... print head control circuit.

Claims (8)

A transport unit for transporting the medium;
A carrier that reciprocates in the direction of a printing digit that intersects the conveyance direction of the medium by the conveyance unit, a print head mounted on the carrier, a platen disposed opposite to the print head, and the print head along the platen A serial printing mechanism having a drive mechanism that reciprocates in the printing digit direction via the carrier;
A sensor provided on the carrier of the serial printing mechanism for detecting the position of at least one end of the medium in the print digit direction;
A timing generation unit that outputs a trigger signal at a predetermined reference timing as a position shift of the one end detected by the sensor occurs;
A controller that operates the sensor in response to the trigger signal from the timing generator and controls movement of the carrier, and
When the control unit receives the trigger signal, the control unit moves the carrier from a first position of the one end portion by a set distance smaller than the medium width in the print digit direction, and then moves the carrier to the sensor. A business processing apparatus, comprising: redetecting a position of one end and determining whether a difference between the redetected position and the first position is within an allowable distance. A host device for supplying data to be printed to the serial printing mechanism, a buffer for storing the data to be printed, and a dot pattern of the data to be printed are allocated according to the arrangement of the printing elements of the print header. A processing unit,
When the determination result by the control unit is negative, the processing unit corrects the data to be printed based on the position of the one end obtained by re-detection. Item 1. The business processing device according to item 1.   The reference timing specified by the timing generation unit is such that the conveyance direction of the medium by the conveyance unit is forward or reverse when the print head passes through a fold of the booklet-shaped medium, or when the page turning process is performed by a page turning mechanism. 2. The business processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the job processing apparatus is at least one of when the print head passes through the step portion in the page thickness direction of the medium. When the sensor first detects the position of each end of the medium,
2. The business processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit moves the carrier over a distance exceeding a distance between detection positions between the two end portions detected first by the trigger signal. A carrier that reciprocates in the direction of a print digit that intersects the conveyance direction of the medium, a print head mounted on the carrier, a platen disposed opposite to the print head, and the print head along the platen via the carrier A sensor is provided on the carrier of the serial printing mechanism having a drive mechanism that reciprocates in the printing digit direction,
When the control unit that controls the movement of the carrier is set at a predetermined position downstream in the medium conveyance direction, the position of at least one end of the both ends of the medium in the print digit direction is set to the sensor. To detect
The controller causes the serial printing mechanism to perform printing on the medium to start medium conveyance;
The control unit compares the carrier from the initial position of the one end of the medium to the medium width in the print digit direction at a reference timing determined in advance as the positional deviation of the one end occurs. Moving a small set distance, causing the sensor to re-detect the position of the one end,
A method of detecting misalignment during transport of a medium in a business processing apparatus, wherein the control unit determines whether or not a difference between the re-detected position and the first position is within an allowable distance.   When the determination result by the control unit is negative, the control unit corrects the data to be printed based on the position of the one end obtained by re-detection. Item 6. A method of detecting misalignment during conveyance of a medium in the business processing device according to Item 5.   The reference timing includes when the fold of the booklet-shaped medium passes through the print head, when the page turning process is performed by a page turning mechanism, when the conveyance direction of the medium is reversed in the forward and reverse directions, and the page thickness direction of the medium 6. The method of detecting misalignment during transport of a medium in a business processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the print head passes at least one of the step portions. When the control unit first causes the sensor to detect the positions of both ends of the medium,
The business processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control unit moves the carrier over a distance exceeding a distance between detection positions between the two end portions detected first at the reference timing. A method for detecting misalignment during conveyance of a medium.

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