JP2011189516A - Data printing device and its control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To considerably improve usability of a data printing device by informing a user of timing for securely feeding paper sheets one by one. <P>SOLUTION: A printing medium fed from a paper feeding port 7 is detected by a detection means. Conveyance of the printing medium by a conveyance part provided for a conveyance passage is started according to detection of the printing medium by the detection means. Operation of the conveyance part is continued until the printing medium in which printing by a printing head is completed is discharged from a paper discharge port. When at least the operation of the conveyance part is stopped, a long-shaped LED display surface 6 provided between a display 4 and the paper feeding port 7 is made to emit light to inform that manual paper feeding of the next printing medium is possible. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a data printing apparatus for printing on a printing medium such as a form fed manually and a control program therefor.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, data printing apparatuses such as printers that feed paper by manually inserting a print medium into a paper feed port of a conveyance path that communicates with a printing mechanism have become widespread.

  When printing with this type of data printing device, if the next print medium is inserted into the paper feed port even though the print medium previously inserted into the paper feed port is in the middle of conveyance, the two print media will be continuous. May be transported as if In particular, if the user is unfamiliar with the handling of the data printing apparatus, the above situation is likely to occur because the timing for inserting the print medium is unknown.

  In order to cope with this problem, a data printing apparatus is known in which a user is notified of the timing at which a printing medium should be inserted. For example, the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is configured to display that the next print medium can be inserted when the print medium has passed the detection position by the gate sensor provided in the conveyance path. .

  The relationship between the position of the print medium inserted first in the conveyance path and the timing when the next print medium inserted is handled as continuous paper is based on data such as the position of the paper detection sensor and the position of the print head. It differs greatly depending on the structure of each printing device. Therefore, depending on the structure of the data printing apparatus, the above-described print medium may be used even if a configuration in which the insertion of the next print medium is displayed in response to the detection of the passage of the print medium to a predetermined position by the sensor is adopted. There may be a situation where the problem of being conveyed as continuous paper cannot be solved sufficiently.

  The present invention has been made based on the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to inform the user of the timing at which paper can be reliably fed one by one, and to greatly improve the usability of the data printing apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following measures.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper feed port for feeding a print medium to a conveyance path provided with a print head, and for discharging a print medium printed by the print head from the conveyance path. A paper discharge port, a detection unit for detecting a print medium inserted into the paper supply port, and conveying the print medium in the direction of the paper discharge port in response to detection of the print medium by the detection unit. A transport unit that starts and discharges the print medium from the paper discharge port after printing on the print medium by the print head is completed, and at least the operation of the transport unit is stopped And a notifying means for notifying that manual feeding of the next printing medium to the sheet feeding port is possible.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, after the print medium fed to the paper feed port to the conveyance path is conveyed by the conveyance unit and printing is performed on the print medium by the print head provided in the conveyance path. A control program for a data printing apparatus that discharges paper to a paper discharge port, wherein the print medium inserted into the paper supply port is detected by the detection unit provided in the conveyance path. A function for causing the transport unit to start transporting the print medium in the direction of the paper discharge port, a function for driving the print head to perform printing on the print medium, and a print that has been printed by the print head The function of stopping the operation of the transport unit after the medium is discharged from the paper discharge port, and the next printing to the paper feed port by a predetermined notification unit at least when the operation of the transport unit is stopped Manual media feeding A control program for realizing a function indicating that a capability.

  According to the present invention in which the above-described means is employed, it is possible to notify the user of the timing at which paper can be reliably fed one by one, and to greatly improve the usability of the data printing apparatus.

The external appearance perspective view of the office computer which is one Embodiment of a data printing apparatus. The schematic diagram which shows the printing mechanism of the office computer. The block diagram which shows the control circuit of the office computer. The flowchart of the process which the printer control part of the office computer performs.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
This embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an office computer for printing forms.

[overall structure]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an office computer 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in the figure, the office computer 1 includes a mechanical keyboard 3 in which alphabet keys and numeric keys are arranged on a main body 2, a display 4 (print information display unit) which is an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), a mouse 5, and the like. The LED display surface 6 (notification means), which is a long, substantially transparent member. A paper feed port 7 for manually feeding the print medium is provided below the display 4, and a paper discharge port is provided at a position facing the paper feed port 7 through the display 4 of the main body 2. A paper discharge tray 9 is provided for stacking and holding print media discharged from the opening 8 (not shown in FIG. 1).

  The LED display surface 6 is provided between the display 4 and the paper feed port 7 so that the longitudinal direction thereof substantially coincides with the width direction of the paper feed port 7 (direction approximately perpendicular to the direction in which the print medium is inserted). In addition, light is emitted when a plurality of LEDs provided inside are turned on. This LED display surface 6 informs the user of the timing at which manual paper feed to the paper feed port 7 is possible by the light emission, and is directed in a direction substantially coincident with the display direction of the display 4.

[Printing mechanism]
Next, the printing mechanism built in the main body 2 will be described.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram schematically showing the printing mechanism. Inside the main body 2, a conveyance path 10 that guides the print medium from the paper supply port 7 to the paper discharge port 8 is provided. This transport path 10 is composed of a transport roller pair 12 including a skew feeding correction roller 11, a drive roller 12a and a driven roller 12b, a drive roller 13a and a driven roller 13b from the paper feed port 7 to the paper discharge port 8. A conveying roller pair 14 including a conveying roller pair 13, a driving roller 14a and a driven roller 14b, and a conveying roller pair 15 including a driving roller 15a and a driven roller 15b are provided. Further, a paper sensor 16 (detection means) is provided slightly shifted from the position substantially opposite to the skew feeding correction roller 11 toward the conveyance roller pair 12 side, and the print head 17 and the platen are disposed between the conveyance roller pairs 14 and 15. 18 is arranged oppositely. The conveyance roller pairs 12 to 15 constitute a conveyance unit in the present embodiment.

  The skew correction roller 11 includes a plurality of impellers arranged along the correction roller shaft at regular intervals, and conveys the print medium inserted from the sheet feeding port 7 toward the conveyance roller pair 12. The transport roller pairs 12 to 15 transport the print medium transported to the transport roller pair 12 by the skew feeding correction roller 11 further toward the paper discharge port 8. The paper sensor 16 optically detects the leading edge and the trailing edge of the print medium, and the skew correction roller 11 and the conveying roller pairs 12 to 15 are rotationally driven based on the detection result of the sensor 16.

  The print head 17 is a so-called dot impact print head that forms a print pattern on the surface of a print medium by hitting a pin formed of a wire or the like to the print medium via an ink ribbon (not shown).

[Control circuit]
Next, the control circuit of the office computer 1 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the office computer 1. The main control circuit 20 of the office computer 1 incorporates a CPU 21 that functions as a control center, and a chip set 22 composed of a north bridge and a south bridge is connected to the CPU 21. Connected to the chip set 22 are a ROM (Read Only Memory) 23, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, the keyboard 3, the display 4, the mouse 5, and a printer interface (I / F) 25.

  The ROM 23 stores fixed data such as an operation program of the office computer 1. The RAM 24 forms various work storage areas that can be rewritten according to the processing status of the office computer 1.

  The keyboard 3 has alphabet keys, numeric keys, and other function keys, and outputs a key signal corresponding to the depressed operation key to the CPU 21. The display 4 selectively displays information to be notified to the user in response to a command from the CPU 21.

  Connected to the printer interface 25 is a printer control unit 31 for controlling a printer circuit 30 constituted by each part of the printing mechanism. Connected to the printer control unit 31 are a plurality of LEDs 32 that emit light from the LED display surface 6, the paper sensor 16, a motor driver 33, and a head driver 34.

  The printer control unit 31 includes a control microcomputer that controls each part of the printing mechanism, a print buffer that accumulates and stores print data relating to a plurality of jobs, and the like.

  The motor driver 33 is connected to a skew correction motor 35 that rotates the skew correction roller 11 and a conveyance motor 36 that rotates the drive rollers 12a to 15a, and generates a drive pulse at a timing commanded by the printer control unit 31. It is generated and supplied to the skew feeding correction motor 35 or the conveyance motor 36. The skew feeding correction motor 35 and the transport motor 36 that have received the drive pulse supplied from the motor driver 33 rotate by an amount corresponding to the number of supplied drive pulses.

  The head driver 34 is connected to the print head 17 and drives the print head 17 in alignment with the transport operation of the print medium by the motor driver 33 to form a print pattern on the print medium.

  Each unit constituting the control circuit of the office computer 1 uses an AC / DC converter 41 to convert an AC power supplied from an external power source such as a commercial AC power source or a power source 40 that is a battery built in the main body 2 into a DC power source. Operates with power obtained by conversion.

[Printing operation]
Next, the printing operation by the office computer 1 having the above configuration will be described.
At the time of printing, the user first operates the keyboard 3 and the mouse 5 to activate a predetermined application on the office computer 1. When this application is started, a print information input screen is displayed on the display 4. The user inputs desired print information by operating the keyboard 3 and the mouse 5 in an input box provided on the input screen. When the input of the printing information is completed, a GUI component for starting printing provided on the input screen is operated by the keyboard 3 or the mouse 5 to instruct the start of printing. At this time, print data based on the print information input on the input screen by the CPU 21 is generated and sent to the printer control unit 31. The printer control unit 31 accumulates and stores the print data sent from the main control circuit 20 in the buffer as one job.

  The printer control unit 31 executes an operation program for printing a job generated as described above while operating power is supplied to the office computer 1. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of the printer control unit 31 realized by the operation program.

  In this process, the printer control unit 31 first determines whether there is a job waiting for printing (step S1). If there is no job waiting for printing, the printer control unit 31 waits for reception of print data sent from the main control circuit 20 (No in step S1). If there is a job sent from the main control circuit 20 and accumulated in the buffer (Yes in step S1), the printer control unit 31 turns on the LED 32 to cause the LED display surface 6 to emit light, and the paper feed port 7 The user is notified that manual sheet feeding is possible (step S2).

  After turning on the LED 32, the printer control unit 31 determines whether or not the paper sensor 16 has detected the leading edge of the print medium manually inserted into the paper feed port 7 (step S3). This process is continued until the paper sensor 16 detects the leading edge of the print medium (No in step S3). If the leading edge of the print medium is detected by the paper sensor 16 (Yes in step S3), the printer control unit 31 causes the motor driver 33 to drive the skew correction motor 35 (step S4). As a result, the skew feeding correction roller 11 rotates, so that a conveying force is applied to the printing medium, and the leading edge of the printing medium eventually comes into contact with the conveying roller pair 12. When the leading edge of the printing medium hits the conveying roller pair 12, slippage occurs between the skew feeding correction roller 11 and the printing medium. Thus, by abutting the leading end of the printing medium against the conveying roller pair 12, the leading end of the printing medium is aligned in a direction substantially coincident with the axial direction of the conveying roller pair 12.

  After correcting the skew of the print medium, the printer control unit 31 causes the motor driver 33 to supply a drive pulse to the carry motor 36 to drive the carry motor 36 (step S5) and turn off the LED 32 (step S6). . When the transport motor 36 is driven, the transport roller pairs 12 to 15 start to rotate, so that the print medium is transported along the transport path 10 toward the paper discharge port 8.

  After starting the driving of the carry motor 36, the printer control unit 31 determines whether or not the leading edge of the print medium has been carried to the print start position by the print head 17 (step S7). In this process, for example, the number of drive pulses supplied to the carry motor 36 after the drive of the carry motor 36 is started is equal to the distance from the installation position of the carry roller pair 12 on the carry path to the print start position. When the number of drive pulses necessary for the conveyance is reached, it is determined that the conveyance pulse has been conveyed to the print start position.

  When the print medium is conveyed to the print start position (Yes in step S7), the printer control unit 31 performs a print operation based on the print data of the job (step S8). That is, based on the print data of the job, the drive timing of the transport motor 36 by the motor driver 33 and the drive timing of the print head 17 by the head driver 34 are synchronized, and the pattern indicated by the print data is printed on the surface of the print medium. Form.

  When this printing operation is completed, the printer control unit 31 determines whether or not the printing medium is discharged from the discharge port 8 (step S9). In this process, for example, the number of drive pulses supplied to the transport motor 36 after the paper sensor 16 detects the trailing edge of the print medium is the distance from the detection position of the paper sensor 16 on the transport path to the paper discharge port 8. When at least the number of drive pulses necessary for transporting the print medium is exceeded, it is determined that the print medium has been discharged.

  If it is determined that the print medium is discharged from the paper discharge port 8 (Yes in step S9), the printer control unit 31 stops the supply of drive pulses from the motor driver 33 to the carry motor 36, and drives the carry motor 36. Is stopped (step S10).

  When the printing operation for one job is completed in this way, the printer control unit 31 determines again whether there is a job waiting for printing (step S1). If there is a job waiting to be printed, the LED 32 is turned on to notify that manual feeding to the paper feed port 7 is possible (step S2), and steps S3 to S10 are performed for the manually fed print medium. Process.

  As described above, the office computer 1 according to this embodiment can manually feed the next print medium after the print medium is discharged from the paper discharge port 8 and the rotation of the conveyance roller pairs 12 to 15 is stopped. Notify that. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent a situation in which the next fed printing medium is involved in the printing operation on the previously fed printing medium.

  Further, the fact that the next print medium can be manually fed is notified by causing the LED display surface 6 to emit light. The LED display surface 6 is oriented in substantially the same direction as the display surface of the display 4. Therefore, even when the user confirms information input by operating the keyboard 3 or the mouse 5 on the display 4 or inputs print information to another print medium, the user is likely to notice light emission from the LED display surface 6.

  Further, an LED display surface 6 is provided between the display 4 and the paper feed port 7. Therefore, even if the user waits for the completion of the previous printing operation with the next printing medium brought close to the paper feed port 7 by hand, the LED display surface 6 is held by the hand-held printing medium from the direction facing the display 4. Not blocked.

  Further, since the LED display surface 6 has a long shape whose longitudinal direction is a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction in which the print medium is inserted into the paper supply port 7, its display width is wide and easily visible from a wide range.

  Thus, since the position where the LED display surface 6 is provided and the shape of the LED display surface 6 are devised, it is easy for the user to recognize the timing at which the next manual feeding of the print medium can be performed. As a result, the next printing medium can be fed immediately, so that the efficiency of work using the office computer 1 is greatly improved.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Specific examples of modifications are as follows.
(1) That is, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the data printing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to the office computer 1 with a built-in printer has been described. However, the data printing device according to the present invention includes other types of devices having a printing mechanism. Therefore, the present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus having a copying function, a printer used externally to an information processing apparatus such as a PC (Personal computer), and the like. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to printers other than dot impact printers, such as thermal printers, laser printers, or inkjet printers.

(2) In the embodiment, the LED display surface 6 is used to notify that the next print medium can be inserted. However, other notification methods that do not use the LED display surface 6 can also be employed. For example, an audio output speaker may be provided in the data printing device, and a predetermined audio may be generated from the speaker to notify that the next print medium can be inserted.

  In addition, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, you may delete some components from all the components shown by the said embodiment. Furthermore, constituent elements over different embodiments may be appropriately combined.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Office computer, 2 ... Main body, 3 ... Keyboard, 4 ... Display, 5 ... Mouse, 6 ... LED display surface, 7 ... Paper feed port, 8 ... Paper discharge port, 10 ... Transport path, 12-15 ... Transport Roller pair, 16 ... paper sensor, 21 ... CPU, 31 ... printer controller, 32 ... LED, 36 ... conveyance motor

JP-A-8-324843

Claims (6)

A paper feed port for feeding a print medium to a conveyance path provided with a print head;
A paper discharge port for discharging the print medium that has been printed by the print head from the conveyance path;
Detecting means for detecting a print medium inserted into the paper feed port;
In response to the detection of the print medium by the detection means, the conveyance of the print medium in the direction of the paper discharge port is started, and after the printing on the print medium by the print head is completed, the print medium is Conveying means for discharging the paper from the paper discharge port and stopping the operation;
An informing means for informing that manual feeding of the next print medium to the paper feeding port is possible at least when the operation of the conveying means is stopped;
A data printing apparatus comprising:   The data printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is a display member that displays that manual feeding of a next printing medium to the paper feeding port is possible.   The printing apparatus further includes a print information display unit that displays print information on a print medium that is input through a predetermined input unit, the display surface being directed in a direction substantially the same as the direction in which the display surface of the display member is directed. The data printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein:   The data printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display member is provided between the print information display unit and the paper feed port.   5. The data printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the display member has a long shape whose longitudinal direction is a direction substantially orthogonal to a direction in which a print medium is inserted into the paper feed port. Data that is transported by the transport unit to the print medium fed to the paper feed port to the transport path, and is printed on the print medium by the print head provided in the transport path and then discharged to the paper discharge port A control program for a printing device,
In the data printing device,
A function of causing the transport unit to start transporting the print medium in the direction of the paper discharge port in response to detection of a print medium inserted into the paper feed port by a detection unit provided in the transport path;
A function of driving the print head to perform printing on the print medium;
A function of stopping the operation of the transport unit after the print medium that has been printed by the print head is discharged from the discharge port;
A function for notifying that the next print medium can be manually fed to the sheet feeding port by a predetermined notifying unit at least when the operation of the conveying unit is stopped;
Control program to realize.

Images