JP2529421Y2 - Word processor - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a word processor using an ink ribbon cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An end portion of an ink ribbon used in a word processor has a form in which silver light reflecting portions and black non-reflecting portions are alternately formed, and this end portion passes in front of a photointerrupter. The end of the ink ribbon is detected based on a change in the TE signal based on a change in the output of the photo interrupter. That is, a single "L" of the TE (tape end) signal does not judge that the tape end, and the TE signal changes two or more times continuously, and the number of steps of the CR motor is 4 during that time. ~ 14
The configuration is such that when there is a step, it is determined that the end of the tape is present, thereby increasing the reliability of detecting the end of the ink ribbon.

[0003] However, in the case of printing using thermal paper without using an ink ribbon, although it is rare, direct sunlight directly enters the photointerrupter at the window or the like, and it corresponds to 4 to 14 steps of the above-described CR motor. time,
If it is accidentally inserted into the photointerrupter more than once consecutively, or if it is not inserted, it will be mistaken as the tape end even though it is not the tape end (even though the ink ribbon cassette is not installed in the first place). May be determined.

In view of such circumstances, the applicant of the present application has already proposed an end detection control in which an ink ribbon cassette detection circuit is provided on a carriage base and the presence or absence of the ink ribbon cassette is added. That is, when the ink ribbon cassette detection circuit detects that the ink ribbon cassette is not mounted, control is performed to invalidate the TE signal.

[0005]

However, as described above, in the structure provided with the ink ribbon cassette detection circuit,
It is necessary to guide the cassette presence / absence signal from the circuit to the main body control unit via the flexible printed circuit board of the thermal head, which causes a problem that the length or number of the flexible printed circuit boards is increased.

[0006] In recent years, the number of head dots has been increased in order to improve the printing quality, and even in the situation where the length or number of flexible printed circuit boards is increasing,
A tape end detection technique that does not cause such an increase is required. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a word processor which can obtain information on whether or not an ink ribbon cassette is attached and perform appropriate tape end detection without providing an ink ribbon cassette detection circuit.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a word processor according to the present invention is a word processor having a printer unit having a tape end detecting circuit for detecting a tape end of an ink ribbon cassette. With / without set
Key to accept operator input to set either
Print menu with the board and the set presence / absence
The display to be displayed in the inside and the presence or absence of this
A control means is provided for canceling the end detection by the tape end circuit when the operator sets the operation .

[0008]

According to the above arrangement, it is possible to obtain information on whether or not the ink ribbon cassette has been mounted without providing an ink ribbon cassette detection circuit. Since the detection is cancelled, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the ink ribbon cassette is not mounted in the first place and the light is irrelevant to the end detection and the erroneous determination is made that the ink ribbon is the end.

Since the ink ribbon cassette detecting circuit is not provided, the adverse effect of providing the circuit is eliminated.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a word processor, in which 1 is an I / O port, 2 is a tape end detection circuit, 5 is a switching transistor, 6 is a comparator, 7 is a CPU, 8 is a display, and 9 is a keyboard. Department.

The I / O port 1 is an output port (APA0)
To APA7) and input ports (BPA0 to BPA7)
It has. The APA7 terminal is a SENSOR ON signal output terminal (“L” indicates ON), and becomes “L” when printing is performed, and otherwise becomes “H”. The BPA0 terminal is a TE signal input terminal to which a tape end detection signal (TE signal) of the ink ribbon cassette is input.

The tape end detecting circuit 2 is a circuit for detecting a tape end of an ink ribbon cassette provided in a printer unit (not shown), and is constituted by a photo interrupter, and its light emitting diode 3 emits light toward the ink ribbon. The phototransistor 4 emits light and receives the light reflected by the ink ribbon. The switching transistor 5 is turned on to turn on the light emitting diode 3 when the SENSOR ON signal is “L” (during printing), and turned OFF when the SENSOR ON signal is “H” (during non-printing). Then, the lighting of the light emitting diode 3 is stopped.

The comparator 6 has an inverting input terminal and a non-inverting input terminal. A voltage divided by resistors R1 and R2 is applied to the non-inverting input terminal, while the inverting input terminal is a collector terminal of the phototransistor 4. Has a configuration connected to
Its function is that when the silver light reflecting portion indicating the end of the ink ribbon faces the photointerrupter, T
"H" is output as the E signal, and "L" is output otherwise.

The CPU 7 is a center for performing word creation, printing control, disk reading / writing control, and the like in the word processor. The display 8 displays a created document, a print menu, and the like. The keyboard 9 has character keys for inputting characters, a cursor movement key, a conversion key, and the like. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a print menu displayed on the display 8 and includes an item "ink ribbon cassette installation" in addition to a normal print menu. Are selected by the operator. This selection can be made, for example, by operating a conversion key on the keyboard 9 to change the display of the presence portion of the “ink ribbon cassette installed” displayed on the display 8 from “present” to “absent” or “absent”. "" To "Yes". Of course, this selection is made depending on whether the user uses thermal transfer paper or thermal recording paper.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an ink ribbon end detection process. First, when the print key is turned on (S1), it is determined by a sheet detection circuit (not shown) whether or not sheets are set in the printer (S2). "Please set" message is displayed (S3). On the other hand, if paper is set, printing is performed according to the contents of the print menu (S4).

Next, it is determined whether or not the TE signal has changed from "L" to "H" (S5). If the TE signal has changed (YES), it is determined whether or not the ink ribbon cassette is installed in the "Ink ribbon cover" of the print menu. Judgment is made by looking at the contents of "with / without set" (S6), and if yes (YES), TE
It is determined whether or not the number of steps of the CR motor has continued two or more consecutively between 4 and 14 steps between the signal change points (S7). If it has continued for two or more times (YES), a message "ink ribbon is out" is displayed on the display 8 (S8), and printing is stopped (S8).
9).

On the other hand, if the result of each of the steps 5, 6, and 7 is NO, it is determined whether the printing is completed (S 10). If the printing is not completed, the process proceeds to step 4. When the printing is completed, a message of "printing completed" is displayed on the display 8 (S11), and the printing is completed (S12). In the above configuration, the print menu displayed on the display 8 includes an item “ink ribbon cassette installation”, and the operator selects whether or not the ink ribbon cassette is installed, so that the ink ribbon cassette detection circuit is not provided.
Information on whether or not the ink ribbon cassette is attached can be obtained. When the information indicating that the ink ribbon cassette is not attached is obtained, the end detection by the tape end detection circuit 2 is stopped. Therefore, even though the ink ribbon cassette is not attached in the first place, the ink ribbon cassette receives light irrelevant to the end detection. It is possible to avoid a situation in which the end is erroneously determined.

In this embodiment, the end detection by the tape end detection circuit 2 is stopped by not proceeding to the step 7, but when the information indicating that the ink ribbon cassette is not attached is obtained, the TE signal input is performed. May be canceled to stop the end detection by the tape end detection circuit 2, and the specific configuration is not limited.

[0019]

As described above, the present invention is to detect the presence or absence of the installation of the ink ribbon cassette by the print menu and to reliably detect the tape end, and is not a structure having the ink ribbon cassette detection circuit. The effect of providing a detection circuit, that is, the effect of leading to an increase in the length or number of flexible printed circuit boards because the cassette presence / absence signal is led to the main body control unit via the flexible printed circuit board of the thermal head can be eliminated. Play.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a word processor as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a print menu displayed on a display.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an ink ribbon end detection process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 I / O port 2 Tape end detection circuit 7 CPU (control means) 8 Display

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] In a word processor including a printer unit having a tape end detection circuit for detecting a tape end of an ink ribbon cassette, whether the ink ribbon cassette is mounted or not is determined.
Keyboard that accepts operator input for setting
And the set presence / absence are displayed in the print menu
The display and the presence / absence of this presence / absence are set by the operator.
A word processor provided with control means for canceling the end detection by the tape end circuit when the end processing is performed.