JP2012187743A - Tandem continuous paper printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate waste consumption of toner used for mark printing and to enable a second printing device to correctly print so as to correspond to a side printed by a first printing device.SOLUTION: The tandem continuous paper printer 100 comprises a first printer engine 110, a second printer engine 120, and a printer controller 200. The first printer engine 110 prints on one side of the continuous paper, the second printer engine 120 prints on the same side or the other side of the continuous paper on which the first printer engine 110 has printed, thereby carrying out tandem printing. The printer controller 200 is configured such that a part of a specific page of print data printed by the first printer engine 110 is selectively displayed on the display part 215 included in the printer controller 200, the part of the selected print data is used as page identifying information 300, and based on the page identifying information 300, the first and second printer engines 110 and 120 are aligned to each other for printing.

Description

  The present invention relates to a tandem continuous paper printing apparatus that uses a continuous paper printing apparatus in a tandem connection configuration.

  With the configuration of two continuous paper printers (continuous paper printers) capable of single-sided printing, the operations of the first printing device (first printer engine) and the second printing device (second printer engine) are synchronized with each other. The first printing device prints by changing the color of the toner used in the first printing device and the second printing device and printing on the same surface or by inverting the paper between the first printing device and the second printing device. A tandem continuous paper printing device is known in which a second printing device prints on the back side of a printed paper.

  In such a tandem continuous paper printing apparatus, it is important to synchronize the pages printed by the first printing apparatus and the pages printed by the second printing apparatus.

  In order to solve this problem, it is already known that the page identification information is printed by the first printing apparatus, the page identification information printed by the first printing apparatus is read by the second printing apparatus, and the back side corresponding to the front side is printed. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  In addition, a configuration is known in which when the number of pages between the first and second printing apparatuses is N, printing is started after the second printing apparatus counts the number of pages N (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  However, a method of printing and reading page identification information such as a mark for page identification has a problem that toner unnecessary for the user for printing the page identification information is wasted. .

  In addition, there is a problem that the value of N does not match the number of actually loaded pages depending on the paper loading operation by the user.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a tandem continuous paper printing apparatus that eliminates wasteful consumption of toner used for mark printing and that can correctly perform printing with the second printing apparatus corresponding to the printing surface of the first printing apparatus. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve such an object, the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to claim 1 includes a first printing apparatus, a second printing apparatus, and a print control unit, and the first printing apparatus applies a single-sided continuous paper sheet. In the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus that performs tandem printing by printing on the same side or the back side of the continuous paper printed by the first printing apparatus by the second printing apparatus, the print control means prints on the first printing apparatus. A part of the predetermined page of print data to be displayed is displayed on a display unit included in the print control unit so as to be selectable, and a part of the selected print data is used as page identification information. Printing position alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the second printing apparatus includes a detecting unit that detects the page identification information, and the print control unit includes the page identification information. In the case where each page of the print data is different, by comparing the page identification information printed by the first printing apparatus and detected by the detection means with the data in the area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data, Printing position alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed.

  Further, the invention according to claim 3 is the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the print control means is configured such that when the page identification information is the same in each page of the print data, the print control means. The printing position alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed based on the count result obtained by the page counter included in the printing apparatus.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to the second or third aspect, the print control means is a page identification information printed by the first printing apparatus and detected by the detection means, When collating with the data in the area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data, the area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data is set to a wider range than the selected page identification information.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate unnecessary consumption of toner used for mark printing and to perform printing correctly in the second printing apparatus corresponding to the printing surface in the first printing apparatus.

It is a schematic block diagram of the tandem continuous paper printer which concerns on this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of page identification information. It is a functional block diagram of a printer controller. It is explanatory drawing of the printing start position alignment in the surface and back surface of continuous paper. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a printing process executed by a tandem continuous paper printer.

  Hereinafter, the configuration according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiment shown in FIGS.

  The tandem continuous paper printing apparatus (tandem continuous paper printer 100) according to the present embodiment includes a first printing apparatus (first printer engine 110), a second printing apparatus (second printer engine 120), and a print control unit (printer). Controller 200), printing on one side of continuous paper by the first printing device, and printing on the same side or back side of the continuous paper printed by the first printing device by the second printing device, thereby performing tandem printing In the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus, the print control means displays a predetermined page of print data to be printed by the first printing apparatus on the display unit (215) provided in the print control means so that a part thereof can be selected. A part of the print data is used as page identification information (300), and based on the page identification information, the print position alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed. It is intended.

(Configuration of tandem continuous paper printer)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tandem continuous paper printer which is an embodiment of a tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to the present invention. The tandem continuous paper printer 100 includes a first printer engine 110, a second printer engine 120, and a printer controller 200, and performs printing based on print data transmitted from the host device 10. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, an example will be described in which the tandem continuous paper printer 100 performs duplex printing by printing odd pages on the front side of the continuous paper and even pages on the back side.

  The first printer engine 110 includes a paper feeding unit 111, a printing drum 112, a fixing unit 114, and the like. Although not shown, around the printing drum 112, a charging means for charging the printing drum, an exposure means for exposing the surface of the printing drum, a developing means for developing by attaching toner, and a toner image on the paper There are provided electrophotographic processes such as a transfer means for transferring and a cleaning means for cleaning residual toner remaining without being transferred.

  In addition, the paper feeding unit 111 is provided with a folding type continuous paper in which pages are separated by perforations or the like. The continuous paper is supplied from the paper supply unit 111, and the toner is transferred by the printing drum 112. Thereafter, the toner on the sheet is fixed by the fixing unit 114. In this embodiment, an example in which a foldable continuous paper is used as the paper will be described, but it is needless to say that roll paper or the like may be used as the paper.

  The second printer engine 120 includes a detector 122, a printing drum 123, a fixing unit 124, a paper discharge unit 125, and the like. The configurations and functions of the printing drum 123 and the fixing unit 124 are the same as those of the first printer engine 110, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  The sheet discharged from the first printer engine 110 is reversed by the sheet reversing unit 150 and enters the second printer engine 120. The second printer engine 120 includes a paper winding unit 160 that conveys the paper toward the printing drum 123. Thereafter, like the first printer engine 110, the image is supplied to the electrophotographic process by the printing drum 123 of the second printer engine.

  The printer controller 200 expands the data received from the host device 10 into print data, and print data of a predetermined page (for example, the first page) to be printed by the first printer 110 for the display unit 215 (see FIG. 3), a part of the area is displayed for selection to the user.

  The user selects a desired area (a part of the displayed character or symbol) of the displayed print data of the first page using an input means (mouse, tablet, etc.) connected to the controller 200. Can do. The selected area is used as information (page identification information) for identifying a page.

  Here, it is preferable that the region (page identification information) selected by the user is a portion having different print contents corresponding to the designated region in a certain print job. For example, if one page is one form output, it is not an area where the same printing content is made at the same position on all pages as in the form name (issue slip, etc.) but different data for each page (for example, , A region corresponding to a name, an address, etc. in a form is selected.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of page identification information. The page identification information 300a designated by the user corresponds to a predetermined area of the printable area 310 on the sheet.

  Here, the printer controller 200 assumes that the length in the paper feed direction from the upper end of the page identification information 300a to the page break position is Y, and the length from the side end to the left end of the paper (or the right end) is X. The lengths X and Y and the length a and the width b in the paper feed direction of the area set as the page identification information 300 a are stored in the memory 213.

  Further, the page identification information 300b,..., 300n is set at each position on each page corresponding to the page identification information 300a set for the first page. That is, all the page identification information 300a, 300b,..., 300n have the same position and size in the printable area 310.

  A detector 122 as a detecting unit for reading the page identification information 300 printed by the first printer engine 110 is installed upstream of the printing drum 123 of the second printer engine 120.

  The detector 122 detects (reads) the print data at the position of the page identification information 300 on the paper surface printed by the first printer engine 110. In addition, when the paper is a folding type continuous paper, the detector 122 is preferably capable of detecting the page break portion (perforation, etc.).

  The detector 122 preferably uses a sensor having a length over the entire width of the paper, but the paper width in which the page identification information 300 is set using a movable sensor having a predetermined width with respect to the paper width. It may move to a position in the direction and perform detection. In this case, it is preferable that detection is possible at least in the range of the width b or more of the set page identification information 300. For example, a CCD sensor can be used as the detector 122.

  Using the tandem continuous paper printer 100 described above, the first printer engine 110 first prints on the front side, and then the second printer engine 120 prints on the back side to perform tandem printing. Is discharged to the paper discharge unit 125.

(Configuration of printer controller)
Next, the printer controller will be described. FIG. 3 shows a functional block diagram of the printer controller 200.

  The printer controller 200 includes a communication control unit 210, an image processing unit 211, a CPU 212, a memory 213, an abnormality detection unit 214, a display unit 215, a first engine control unit 216, a second engine control unit 217, and a page identification information detection control unit. 218 and the like, and controls the first printer engine 110 and the second printer engine 120.

  The CPU 212 is a control unit that controls the entire printer controller. The memory 213 includes a program executed by the CPU 212, a ROM that stores other fixed data, a RAM that temporarily stores print data, and a power source of the apparatus. It is constituted by a rewritable nonvolatile memory (NVRAM) or the like for holding data even while it is shut off. Further, a page counter 219 described later is configured in the memory 213.

  The communication control unit 210 receives print data from the host device 10 via a network or the like. The image processing unit 211 develops print data received from the host device 10 into print data in the dot image data format and writes the print data in the memory 213 as the first printer engine data or the second printer engine data.

  The abnormality detection unit 214 detects when the page identification information detection control unit 218 has failed in page verification (paper alignment) and displays an error on the display unit 215 or controls for paper alignment (acceleration of the conveyance speed). / Deceleration) is instructed to the second engine control unit 217 (see step S107 in FIG. 5).

  As described above, the display unit 215 displays the page identification information 300 for print data so that the user can select it, and is configured by a liquid crystal display, a liquid crystal panel, or the like.

  The printer controller 200 outputs the print data developed into dot image data by the first engine control unit 216 to the first printer engine 110, and the first printer engine 110 performs printing on the surface of the paper based on the print data. Do. Similarly, the print data developed into dot image data by the second engine control unit 217 is output to the second printer engine 120, and the first printer engine 120 performs printing on the back side of the paper based on the print data.

  At this time, the page identification information detection control unit 218 displays the print result at a position corresponding to the page identification information 300 printed by the first printer engine 110 detected by the detector 122 and the page identification information 300 on the print data. The data is compared with the data corresponding to the set position. The collation process at this time may be a known or new technique and is not particularly limited.

  Here, the print data to be compared is a portion corresponding to the position where the page identification information 300 is set on the print data of each page. That is, in the case of folding type continuous paper, the detector 122 detects the page break portion, and the range from the page break portion to the length a and the width b specified by the lengths X and Y. In the case of paper that cannot detect a page break such as roll paper, it may be specified on the print data based on the set page length.

  By doing in this way, it is possible to detect whether or not the printing result detected by the detector 122 is a corresponding surface only by collating with a partial area without collating with the entire area of the print data. Therefore, efficient collation is possible, and the second printer engine 120 can perform printing corresponding to the front surface on the back surface.

  As will be described later, in order to detect and correct the printing position deviation, it is preferable to perform collation in a range slightly wider than the set page identification information 300 (with a predetermined margin).

(Print start position alignment)
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the printing start position alignment on the front surface and the back surface of the continuous paper by the tandem continuous paper printer. FIG. 4 schematically shows a state in which folding type continuous paper is loaded as paper on the first printer engine 110 and the second printer engine 120.

  The sheet length between the transfer unit 112a of the first printer engine 110 and the transfer unit 123a of the second printer engine 120 is preferably an integral multiple of the page length. By doing so, the writing timings of the first printer engine 110 and the second printer engine 120 can be made the same. However, it is not necessarily required to be an integral multiple of the page length. In this case, the first engine control unit 216 and the second engine control unit 217 set the write timings of the first printer engine 110 and the second printer engine 120. Each may be controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the first printer engine 110, in a state where the transfer point of the transfer device 112a and the page break portion (perforation) coincide, the page identification information 300 is more in the paper feed direction than the transfer point of the transfer device 112a. In FIG. 2, the image is printed at the rear position by the distance Y (see FIG. 2). In addition, the detector 122 of the second printer engine 120 is installed in front of the transfer device 123a by a distance t1 in the paper feeding direction.

  On the second printer engine 120 side, print page information of the first printer engine 110 is detected by reading the page identification information 300 at an earlier timing from the transfer point of the transfer device 123a by the paper feed of t1 length. is there.

  That is, by setting the position Y in the paper feed direction of the page identification information selected by the user to be Y <t1, the second printer engine 120 recognizes the first page of the first printer engine 110 and corresponds to this page. Print data can be specified.

  Therefore, it is preferable that the distance t1 between the detector 122 of the second printer engine 120 and the transfer device 123a is one page. This is because the position Y in the sheet conveyance direction of the page identification information 300 is assumed to be approximately one page from the page break position. Although the case where the distance between the transfer units is an integer multiple of the page N has been described, in the case where the distance between the transfer units is not an integer multiple of the page N (for example, 20.5 pages), the detector 122 is equivalent to the fraction page ( For example, it is necessary to install it at the upstream position in the paper feed direction by 0.5 pages). Therefore, when the distance between the transfer units is not an integral multiple of the page, it is preferable that the distance t1 is further set upstream by one page. However, when the distance of t1 is limited due to the configuration of the apparatus, the settable position of the page identification information 300 may be limited in the page length so that Y <t1 can be maintained. For example, when t1 can be obtained only about half of the page length, the settable position of the page identification information 300 may be limited to the upper half of the page.

(Printing process)
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of print processing executed by the tandem continuous paper printer according to the present embodiment, and describes the mark check (recognition of page identification information) and print processing by the second printer engine 120. is there.

  The second printer engine 120 waits for page identification information 300 printed by the first printer engine 110 after starting printing (step S101), and when the first identification information 300 is detected by the detector 122, as described above. It is checked whether or not the page identification information 300a of the first page matches, and it is determined whether or not they match (step S102).

  If it is the page identification information 300a of the first page (step S102: YES), printing corresponding to the back side of the page printed by the first printer engine 110 is performed (step S103). For example, in the case of a 10-page job for duplex printing, the second page is printed on the back side of the first sheet with respect to the printed contents of one page printed on the front side of the first sheet.

  On the other hand, when the page identification information 300a of the first page cannot be detected (step S102: NO), a page identification information error is reported (step S107), and the printing is stopped (step S108). At this time, it is also preferable to perform control for accelerating / decelerating the paper conveyance speed so as to detect the amount of deviation of the printing position in the paper feed direction based on the collation result and correct the amount of deviation.

  After printing the first page of the second printer engine in step S103, similarly, it waits for page identification information 300 (300b,..., 300n) for the next page, and checks whether the page identification information 300 is for the next page. It is determined whether or not they match (step S104).

  If it is the page identification information 300 of the next page (step S104: YES), printing corresponding to the back side of the page printed by the first printer engine 110 is performed (step S105). On the other hand, if the page identification information 300 of the next page cannot be detected (step S104: NO), a page identification information error is reported (step S107), and the printing is stopped (step S108). Similarly, the shift amount may be corrected.

  If the print job has not ended (step S106: NO), the process returns to step S104, and the detection of the page identification information 300 is repeated (step S104). On the other hand, when the print job is completed (step S106: YES), the process is terminated after the printing is stopped (step S108).

  As described above, in the tandem continuous paper printer according to this embodiment, instead of printing the dedicated page identification information, a partial area of the print data is used as the page identification information, that is, the first printing A part of the data printed by the apparatus is used as page identification information, and the second printing apparatus detects the identification information and prints the back side.

  This eliminates toner consumption in printing the page identification information, and matches the number of pages between the first printing device and the second printing device (that is, the number of pages N between the first and second printing devices is reduced). Can be accurately performed on the basis of a partial area (page identification information) of the print data, and the second printing device can print accurately corresponding to the printing surface of the first printing device. Can be implemented.

  Also, by performing detection of the amount of deviation at the time of collation, it is possible to detect the amount of deviation and correct the printing deviation. Hereinafter, the shift amount detection process will be described. It should be noted that in the detection of the deviation amount, the paper feed control for the paper with the feed hole and the paper such as the roll paper without the feed hole has different control contents, and each will be described.

  First, in the case of paper with feed holes (feed holes are fed with pins corresponding to motor rotation), the paper feed amount is determined by the rotation speed of the paper feed motor. By rotating at a speed, paper can be fed at a constant speed.

  In this case, when two printer engines are connected in tandem, a clock error may occur in each engine as a machine difference, and this error may accumulate and a deviation may occur. Accordingly, the correction of the shift amount in this case can be reset by temporarily stopping and restarting the two printer engines at the page end.

  On the other hand, in the case of paper feed of continuous paper (roll paper, etc.) without a feed hole, it is possible that the rotation speed of the paper feed motor and the paper feed amount do not match due to paper slippage. In many cases, the speed is variable.

  Therefore, in this case, by accumulating the paper feed speed of the second printer engine 120 according to the timing of the user data detected by the second printer engine 120, accumulation of deviation amounts can be prevented.

  Specifically, for example, since the user data is Y behind from the page boundary, the time required to feed paper by Y from the top of the page is T (Y), and the detector 123a of the second printer engine 120 is used. When the time from the beginning of the page to detecting user data is T (t1), the speed of the second printer engine 120 is controlled so that the difference between T (Y) and T (t1) is constant. That's fine. By controlling in this way, accumulation of deviation amounts can be prevented.

  Hereinafter, other embodiments of the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described. In addition, the description about the same point as the said embodiment is abbreviate | omitted.

  As described above, the page identification information 300 is preferably set in different portions of the print contents of each page in the job. However, a large amount of two-page jobs (one sheet for duplex printing) is printed. In the case where the print contents of each page are the same as in the case where the page identification information 300 is set in a part (for example, a form title) having the same print contents in all pages in a job, the page identification Verification by the information detection control unit 218 becomes difficult.

  Therefore, in the printing process shown in FIG. 5, in the printer controller 200, before step S101, whether or not the designated page identification information 300 is correctly set in a different part between pages is determined. The process of confirming the first predetermined number of pages (for example, 10 pages) is performed, and if the page is correctly set to a different part, the subsequent processes are performed according to the flowchart of FIG. Is set to the portion, the page counter 219 counts the number of printed sheets, and the back side is printed based on the counted number. In addition, the fact may be displayed on the display unit 215 so that the user can select the page identification information 300 again.

  In particular, in the case where the collation range is expanded or the like, if there is print data that is the same (or similar) as the portion in which the page identification information 300 is set in the same page, there is a possibility that erroneous detection in collation may occur. . Therefore, the printer controller 200 determines whether or not the setting range by the user is appropriate, and if there is similar data in the same page (especially around the designated area), notifies the display unit 215 or the like to that effect. It is also preferable to do so. This determination may be made by the printer controller 200 for the first few pages of each job.

  Furthermore, when the setting range of the page identification information 300 becomes the same print content from the middle of the job, or the same (or similar) print data as the portion where the page identification information 300 is set in the same page from the middle of the job. Since it may occur, the printer controller 200 preferably performs the above determination for each predetermined page.

  In the above embodiment, the tandem continuous paper printer 100 that performs single-sided printing with the first printer engine 110 and backside printing with the second printer engine 120 has been described as an example. The same effect can be obtained by applying the above printing process to a tandem continuous paper printer that performs single-sided printing with the first printer engine 110 and prints with the second printer engine 120 with different colors on the same surface. Can be obtained. In this case, since the detector (sensor) needs to detect the side facing the transfer portion of the second printer engine 120, in addition to (or instead of) the detector 122 shown in FIG. Another detector 122 ′ may be installed on the side facing the conveyance path.

  The above-described embodiment is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

10 Host device 100 Tandem continuous paper printer (tandem continuous paper printer)
110 First printer engine (first printing device)
111 Feeder 112, 123 Printing drum 112a, 123a Transfer device 114, 124 Fixing unit 120 Second printer engine (second printing device)
122, 122 ′ detector 125 paper discharge unit 150 paper reversing unit 160 paper winding unit 200 printer controller (printing control means)
210 Communication control unit 211 Image processing unit 212 CPU
213 Memory 214 Abnormality detection unit 215 Display unit 216 First engine control unit 217 Second engine control unit 218 Page identification information detection control unit 219 Page counter 300 Page identification information 310 Printable area

JP 2008-149657 A JP 7-237336 A

Claims (4)

A first printing device, a second printing device, and a printing control means;
Tandem continuous paper printing apparatus that performs tandem printing by printing on one side of continuous paper by the first printing device and printing on the same side or back surface of the continuous paper printed by the first printing device by the second printing device. In
The print control unit displays a predetermined page of print data to be printed by the first printing apparatus on a display unit included in the print control unit so that a part thereof can be selected;
A tandem continuous paper printing apparatus characterized in that a part of the selected print data is used as page identification information, and printing alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed based on the page identification information. . The second printing apparatus includes a detection unit that detects the page identification information,
The print control means includes
In the case where the page identification information is different for each page of print data,
By collating the page identification information printed by the first printing apparatus and detected by the detection unit with data in an area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data,
The tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein printing alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed. The print control means includes
When the page identification information is the same for each page of the print data, the print alignment between the first printing apparatus and the second printing apparatus is performed based on the count result by the page counter provided in the print control means. The tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the tandem continuous paper printing apparatus is performed. The print control means includes
When collating the page identification information printed by the first printing apparatus and detected by the detection unit with data in an area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data,
4. The tandem continuous paper printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an area corresponding to the page identification information in the print data is set to a range wider than the selected page identification information. 5.

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