JP2016221774A - Printing medium and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing medium which can be easily identified, and a printer having a simple structure capable of performing printing under a printing condition in accordance with the printing medium.SOLUTION: A printing medium formed by winding a sheet in the roll shape includes a printing medium identification part for identifying the printing medium on the use start end of the printing medium in the roll shape. The printing medium identification part may be formed of a cleaning sheet. The printing medium identification part may be defined to be the length covering the printing medium in the roll shape by wrapping at least one time around the outer periphery of the printing medium in the roll shape. A printer comprises: a detection unit which detects the printing medium identification part provided in the printing medium; and a control unit which determines the control condition of the printer on the basis of the detection result by the detection unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a print medium and a printer.

In the heat-sensitive label paper, the color development temperature may differ depending on the manufacturer of the label paper. In this case, the label sheets manufactured by different manufacturers have different print densities even when a certain energy (heat amount or the like) is applied to the print head during printing.
Conventionally, when label paper is newly set in the printer, information for specifying the type of the label paper is manually set in the printer. The printer performs printing while suppressing variations in print density based on the information.

Japanese Patent No. 5023476

  However, the above-described printer requires a complicated operation of manually inputting information relating to label paper. For this reason, in order to suppress variation in print density, a printer capable of easily specifying a label sheet is desired.

  Patent Document 1 describes a label printer that reads a barcode and an identification mark that are provided on a mount and indicates related information of an individual label, and checks the authenticity of the label. However, this technique requires a complicated manufacturing process of printing a barcode, an identification mark, or the like on each mount of the label. In addition, it is necessary to separately provide a sensor that reads a barcode or identification mark indicating the related information of the individual label in the label printer.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a printing medium that can easily specify a printing medium, and can perform printing under printing conditions according to the printing medium. An object is to provide a printer having a structure.

In order to achieve such an object, the print medium of the present invention has at least the following configuration.
A continuous long print medium,
A print medium specifying unit for specifying the print medium is provided at a use start end of the continuous long print medium.

The printer of the present invention comprises at least the following configuration.
A printer for printing on the printing medium of the present invention,
A detection unit for detecting a print medium specifying unit provided in the print medium;
And a control unit that determines printer control conditions based on a detection result by the detection unit.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a print medium that can easily specify a print medium in order to suppress variations in print density.
Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer having a simple structure capable of printing under printing conditions corresponding to a printing medium.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view which shows an example of the printer of an open state. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a printer. The perspective view which shows an example of the paper roll (printing medium) provided with the printing medium specific | specification part in the use front-end | tip part. The figure which shows an example of a printing medium specific | specification part. The perspective view which shows an example of the roll-shaped printing medium which covered the outer periphery with the cleaning paper. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of an electrical configuration of a printer. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of printing density for each paper type and energy applied to a print head.

  The print medium according to the embodiment of the present invention is continuous and has a print medium specifying unit for specifying the print medium at the use start end of the print medium. The print medium may be formed by winding a sheet in a roll shape, or may be a foldable label sheet. Further, the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention is based on a print unit that prints on the print medium, a detection unit that detects a print medium specifying unit provided on the print medium, and a detection result by the detection unit, for example, A control unit that determines control conditions such as a printing condition according to the printing medium and a display condition according to the printing medium. The control unit includes a print control unit related to print processing. The control unit controls the printing energy to the printing head for each specified printing medium and performs printing processing so as to suppress variation in printing density. For this reason, even when the print medium is replaced, there is no variation in print density.

  A printing medium and a printer (label printer) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment of the present invention includes the contents shown in the drawings, but is not limited to this. In the following description of each drawing, parts that are common to the parts that have already been described are assigned the same reference numerals, and duplicate descriptions are partially omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an example of the printer 1 in an open state.

  The printer 1 feeds a sheet from a sheet roll formed by winding a belt-shaped sheet around a hollow tube, cuts the fed sheet by a cutting unit, and issues a label (medium) as a sheet-like sheet.

  The printer 1 includes a unit 31 such as a printing mechanism unit 3 for issuing a label to the main body unit 1a and a cutter (cutting means). A display input unit 5 is provided in the upper part of the main body 1 a of the printer 1. The display input unit 5 includes a display unit 9b such as a liquid crystal display, a touch panel 9a, and an operation unit 7 (key operation unit) such as a keyboard.

  Specifically, the printer 1 has a control device in the main body 1a. The control device includes a CPU, a RAM, and the like, and comprehensively controls the printing mechanism unit 3, the display input unit 5, the movable blade of the cutter, the motor that drives the movable blade, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the main body 1a of the printer 1 houses, for example, a unit 31 having a printing mechanism and a cutter, a pair of holding portions 60 (61, 62) for holding the paper roll 6 in a detachable manner. It is configured to be possible.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the printer.
A paper roll 6 (label roll) serving as a printing medium has a long tube-like mountless label paper wound around a hollow tube 6a. The paper roll 6 is set so as to be rotatable between a pair of holding portions.

A guide roller 108 is provided on the downstream side of the label paper drawing direction, and a printing unit 103 including a thermal head 103a (printing head) and a platen roller 103b is disposed on the downstream side. A cutter 104 is disposed in the vicinity of the downstream side. The cutter 104 includes a fixed blade 104a and a movable blade 104b. The long label sheet is cut by the cutter 104 into a sheet-like label L.
Further, a roller 105 is disposed on the downstream side of the cutter 104 and holds the label L. A label detection sensor 107 is disposed on the downstream side of the cutter 104 to detect the presence or absence of a label. The label detection sensor 107 includes, for example, a light emitting unit that emits predetermined light such as infrared light, visible light, and laser light, and a light receiving unit that receives reflected light reflected from the label.

  In addition, a paper detection sensor 106 that detects whether or not the mountless label paper is supplied to the print unit 103 in the transfer path of the mountless label paper drawn from the paper roll 6 (label roll) to the print unit 103. Is arranged.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a paper roll (print medium) provided with a print medium specifying part at the use tip. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the print medium specifying unit. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an example of a roll-shaped print medium whose outer periphery is covered with a cleaning sheet.

  In this embodiment, a linerless label (mountingless label) will be described as a label sheet as a print medium. The print medium is not limited to the linerless label, and may be a label with a mount.

  The long strip-like mountless label paper of this embodiment has a printing surface formed on one side (upper surface), a peeling process applied to this printing surface, and an adhesive surface coated with an adhesive on the other side (lower surface) Is formed. The paper roll 6 has a structure in which the long strip-like mountless label paper is wound around a hollow tube 6 a in a roll shape, and can be rotated by a pair of holding portions (not shown) that hold the paper roll 6. Supported.

A paper roll 6 that is a print medium in which the paper is wound in a roll shape includes a print medium specifying unit 200 for specifying the print medium at a use start end of the roll-like print medium.
The print medium specifying unit 200 may be the same paper as the print paper, or may be formed of a material different from the print paper.

  In the present embodiment, the print medium specifying unit 200 is formed of the cleaning paper 201. The cleaning sheet 201 includes, for example, abrasive grains or cleaning liquid, and removes dust or the like attached to the print head by moving the cleaning sheet 201 back and forth or in one direction while in contact with the print head. Can do.

The print medium specifying unit 200 includes a hole 202 for identification corresponding to the paper roll 6 as a print medium.
A plurality of the hole portions 202 are formed. The hole 202 is formed so as to be located in a detection range of a label detection sensor provided in the printer. The print medium specifying unit 200 may be a bar code, a two-dimensional code, a color, a mark, a character, a symbol, or a combination thereof corresponding to the paper roll 6 as a print medium.

  In this embodiment, the hole 202 is formed in a substantially square shape, but may be formed in an arbitrary shape such as a rectangular shape, a substantially circular shape, a substantially elliptical shape, or a polygonal shape.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality of hole portions 202 are formed at a predetermined interval from the tip portion, and the interval between the last two hole portions 202 a and 202 b is shorter than the interval between the other hole portions 202. Is set to

In the present embodiment, when the printing medium is the paper A manufactured by the manufacturer A, it is set so as to cover the last hole 202b. When the printing medium is the paper B manufactured by the manufacturer B, it is set so that the last hole 202b is not covered.
Further, in the present embodiment, the back surface (adhesive property) of the front end portion of the paper drawn from the roll so as to cover the hole portion 202b at the rear end portion of the cleaning paper 201 having the plurality of hole portions 202 shown in FIG. Is attached to the cleaning paper 201 to form the paper A.
The paper B is formed by sticking the back surface of the leading end of the paper drawn from the roll to the cleaning paper 201 so as not to cover the hole 202b at the rear end of the cleaning paper 201.

  By changing the number, shape, type, length, interval, or combination thereof of the holes, it is possible to form the print medium specifying unit 200 that easily identifies a plurality of types of paper.

In this embodiment, the print medium specifying unit 200 of the cleaning sheet 201 is provided with a notch 205 or a mark.
The notch 205 or the mark is provided to distinguish the front and back of the cleaning paper 201 when the cleaning paper 201 is attached to the edge of the adhesive paper drawn from the paper roll 6. By doing so, it is possible to prevent a mistake in the front and back when the cleaning paper 201 is mounted.
The notch 205 or mark is used when the cleaning paper 201 pulled out from the paper roll 6 is set at a predetermined position (a predetermined position near the cutter) of the printer body when the paper roll 6 is mounted on the printer. Referenced. In this way, when the paper roll is replaced, the cleaning paper 201 drawn from the paper roll 6 can be reliably set in the printer main body with the cleaning paper 201 drawn to a predetermined position.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the cleaning sheet 201 provided with the print medium specifying unit 200 is defined to have a length that covers at least one circumference of the roll-shaped print medium and covers the roll-shaped print medium. . When new, the paper roll 6 as a print medium is in a state where the outer peripheral portion is covered and protected by the cleaning paper 201 provided with the print medium specifying unit 200. The paper roll 6 is new and has a good storage state.
Further, when the paper roll is replaced, the cleaning paper 201 covering the outer peripheral portion is pulled out from the paper roll 6 and set at a predetermined position of the printer, so that cleaning can be started quickly, and the print medium specifying unit 200 is set in the printer. By causing the label detection sensor as the detection unit to detect the print medium, the printer can quickly specify the print medium.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the electrical configuration of the printer.
The printer includes a control unit 109 (CPU), a flash memory 110, a RAM 111, a display / operation unit 112 (corresponding to the display / operation unit 112 shown in FIG. 1), an interface 113, a stepping motor 114 that rotates a platen roller, and printing. A thermal head 103a (printing head) as a printing unit, a cutter driving motor 115, a paper detection sensor 106, a label detection sensor 107 as a label detection means, and the like.

  The control unit 109 (CPU) executes a program (control program or the like) stored in a storage unit such as the flash memory 110 or the RAM 111, and comprehensively controls each component of the printer.

  The flash memory 110 and the RAM 111 as storage units store control programs, data, and the like. The flash memory 110 is a read-only memory that stores a control program, control data, and the like. The RAM 111 has a work area for temporarily calling and processing data. The work area includes a dot development area for developing print data into dot data, a call format area for calling and storing one format data from a label format file, a call product area for calling and storing product data, and the like.

The RAM 111 stores, as printing conditions, the energy applied to the print head provided in the printing unit and the color density of the printing medium in association with each printing medium.
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the print density and the energy applied to the print head for each paper type. The horizontal axis represents the energy applied to the print head, and the vertical axis represents the print density for each paper type.
In the present embodiment, a two-color coloring type paper (printing medium) that colors black or red according to the energy applied to the print head is used. As shown in FIG. 8, the paper A and the paper B have different energy applied to the print head in order to achieve the same red print density. In addition, the paper A and the paper B have different energy applied to the print head in order to achieve the same black print density.

The control unit 109 as the print control unit shown in FIG. 7 sets the print condition of the print unit based on the detection result by the detection unit (label detection sensor 107) that detects the print medium specifying unit provided on the print medium. To do. Specifically, the control unit 109 as a print control unit specifies a print medium based on a detection result by the detection unit (label detection sensor 107), and controls energy applied to the print head according to the specified print medium.
Specifically, after specifying the paper type, the control unit 109 as the print control unit, for example, displays data indicating the relationship between the print density for each paper type and the energy applied to the print head shown in FIG. On the basis of the specified paper, the energy applied to the print head (printing conditions) required to realize a predetermined print density of red or black is set, and the energy is applied to the print head to perform the printing process. Do. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the variation in print density for each sheet.

  Next, an example of the operation of the printer will be described.

The paper roll 6 as a printing medium shown in FIG. 6 is protected by the cleaning paper 201 at the outer periphery.
As shown in FIG. 2, the main body 1 a of the printer is opened, and the paper roll 6 is attached to the holding unit 60. At that time, as shown in FIG. 4, the paper roll is mounted on the holding unit in a state where the cleaning paper 201 and the like on the outer periphery of the paper roll 6 are pulled out. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, a paper roll is mounted on the printer.

Next, as an initial operation, the control unit transports the cleaning paper 201 and the like pulled out from the paper roll 6 in the transport direction (label discharge direction).
When the label detection sensor 107 as the detection unit detects the pattern of the level of the reflected light from the hole 202, the control unit identifies that the cleaning sheet 201 exists near the label detection sensor 107, and performs the head cleaning process. I do.
As a cleaning process for the print head, the control unit reciprocates the cleaning paper 201 a predetermined number of times with respect to the print head while the print head is in contact with the hole 202 between the holes 202 of the cleaning paper 201. As described above, the rotation of the guide roller 108, the platen roller 103b, and the like is controlled.

After the print head cleaning process, the control unit controls the rotation of the guide roller 108 and the platen roller 103b so as to convey the sheet in the conveyance direction.
At this time, the label detection sensor 107 as a detection unit detects a pattern of the level of reflected light from the hole 202 (including the hole 202a, the hole 202b, etc.), and the control unit, based on the detection result, The type (manufacturer, etc.) of the paper roll 6 as the printing medium is specified.
Then, the control unit realizes a predetermined print density of red or black on the specified paper based on the data indicating the relationship between the print density for each paper type and the energy applied to the print head shown in FIG. The energy applied to the print head (printing conditions) required for printing is determined, and the energy is applied to the print head to perform the printing process. The printing conditions determined here may be, for example, a printing medium conveyance speed (a driving amount of a motor for conveyance, etc.), an application time, a history control element, or a combination thereof. .
The control unit as the print control unit performs a process of cutting the print medium with a cutting means such as a cutter so as to remove the print medium specifying unit after the cleaning is completed after the print medium specifying unit is detected. By doing so, at the start of printing, the print medium is in a state in which the print medium specifying portion is removed, and printing can be started immediately on the paper.

As described above, the print medium according to the embodiment of the present invention is formed in a continuous long shape or a roll of paper, and the print medium is specified at the use start end of the print medium. The printing medium specifying unit 200 is provided.
For this reason, the print medium specifying unit 200 allows the printer to easily specify the print medium.
Further, the print medium specifying unit 200 may be formed of the same material as that of the printing paper, or may be formed of a material different from that of the printing paper.
When the print medium specifying portion is formed of a material different from that of the print paper, for example, the print medium specifying portion is formed of the cleaning paper, so that the cleaning paper portion also serves as the print medium specifying portion. That is, space can be saved.

Further, the print medium specifying unit 200 of the print medium according to the embodiment of the present invention is defined to have a length that covers at least one circumference of the roll-shaped print medium and covers the roll-shaped print medium. In this case, the outer periphery of the roll-shaped print medium can be protected by the print medium specifying unit.
Note that the print medium specifying unit 200 is not limited to this form, and may have one or a plurality of holes, or may be shorter than the outer periphery of the roll-shaped print medium.

  In addition, the print medium specifying unit 200 of the print medium according to the embodiment of the present invention has a hole 202 for identification corresponding to the print medium. By adopting the hole 202 as the print medium specifying unit 200, the print medium can be specified with a simple structure. As described above, the hole 202 is formed in a detection range (such as a light irradiation range from the light emitting unit) of the label detection sensor 107 as a detection unit. For this reason, the pattern of the level of the reflected light according to the hole 202 can be easily detected by the label detection sensor 107 as the detection unit.

  Further, the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention employs, as a detection unit, a label detection sensor 107 that is provided at an issue port of a general label printer and detects the presence or absence of issued labels. The label detection sensor 107 detects the presence or absence of an issued label, and also serves as a detection unit that detects the above-described print medium specifying unit. For this reason, compared with the case where the detection part which detects a printing medium specific part is newly provided, the printer of embodiment of this invention has a simple structure.

In addition, the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a printing unit 103 (such as a thermal head 103a) that prints on the printing medium and a detection unit (label detection sensor 107) that detects a printing medium specifying unit provided on the printing medium. And a control unit 109 that determines printer control conditions such as a printing condition according to the print medium and a display condition on the display unit according to the print medium, based on a detection result by the detection unit (label detection sensor 107); Have The control unit 109 includes a print control unit related to the printing process of the printer.
For this reason, the control unit 109 can easily set printer control conditions such as the printing conditions of the printing unit for each printing medium based on the detection result of the detection unit (label detection sensor 107). In addition, it is possible to provide a printer that can reduce variations in print density for each paper type.

Further, the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention stores the energy applied to the print head (thermal head 103a) provided in the print unit 103 and the color density of the print medium in association with each print medium as print conditions. A control unit 109 having a storage unit (flash memory 110, RAM 111, etc.) controls the energy applied to the print head in accordance with the print medium specified by the detection result of the detection unit.
For this reason, the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention can easily reduce variations in print density for each type of paper.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and there are design changes and the like without departing from the gist of the present invention. Is included in the present invention.
Further, the embodiments described in the above drawings can be combined with each other as long as there is no particular contradiction or problem in the purpose and configuration.
Moreover, the description content of each figure can become independent embodiment, respectively, and embodiment of this invention is not limited to one embodiment which combined each figure.

  In the above-described embodiment, the printer (label) has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, the printer according to the present invention may be applied to a POS register, a ticket machine (ticketing machine), an issuing device that simply cuts and issues a preprinted label with a cutter, an information device, a packaging device with a printer, and the like.

In the above-described embodiment, the print control unit determines the print condition based on the detection result by the detection unit, but the present invention is not limited to this control. For example, when a certain type of label is recognized, the print control unit may display a message about the handling of the label on the display unit according to the recognized type of label.
Also, the print control unit cannot recognize the type of the label by the detection unit (for example, when the print medium specifying unit (cleaning sheet) does not exist in the first place with a non-standard label or a non-certified label, When the portion (cleaning sheet) is cut and is read from the label portion as it is), a message corresponding to that may be displayed on the display portion.

  The control unit may perform various controls according to the type of label detected by the detection unit. In detail, the control unit displays a message on the display unit such as cleaning the thermal head (printing unit) etc. every time a label of a predetermined length (100 m, etc.) is issued because the A label is easily soiled. Also, since the B label is not easily soiled, a message such as cleaning the thermal head (printing unit) may be displayed on the display unit each time a label with a specified length such as 200 m is issued. .

  The printing unit as the printing control unit may be controlled so that the conveyance speed at the time of identification or cleaning by the detection unit is different from the conveyance speed of the label continuum during printing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer 1a ... Main-body part 6 ... Paper roll (printing medium)
103: Printing section 103a ... Thermal head (printing head)
107: Label detection sensor (detection unit)
109 ... Control unit (printing control unit)
200: Print medium specifying portion 201 ... Cleaning paper 202, 202a, 202b ... Hole (identification hole)
205 ... Notch

Claims (10)

A continuous long print medium,
A printing medium comprising a printing medium identification unit for identifying the printing medium at a use start end of the continuous long printing medium.   The print medium according to claim 1, wherein the print medium specifying unit is formed of a material different from that of print paper.   The print medium according to claim 2, wherein the print medium specifying unit is formed of a cleaning sheet. The printing medium is a roll of paper.
4. The print medium specifying unit is defined by a length that covers at least one circumference of a roll-shaped print medium and covers the roll-shaped print medium. The printing medium described.   The print medium according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the print medium specifying section includes a hole for identification corresponding to the print medium.   6. The print medium according to claim 1, wherein the print medium specifying part is provided with a notch or a mark. A printer for printing on a print medium according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A detection unit for detecting a print medium specifying unit provided in the print medium;
A control unit that determines a control condition of the printer based on a detection result by the detection unit.   The printer according to claim 7, wherein the control unit determines a printing condition based on a detection result by the detection unit. As the printing condition, a storage unit that stores energy to be applied to a print head provided in the printing unit and a color density of the printing medium in association with each printing medium;
The printer according to claim 8, wherein the control unit controls energy applied to the print head in accordance with a print medium specified by a detection result by the detection unit.   10. The printer according to claim 7, wherein the control unit performs a process of cutting the print medium so as to remove the print medium specifying unit after the print medium specifying unit is detected. 11.

Images