JP2902425B2 - Drive control method for thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer method in which a heat-meltable ink of an ink ribbon is melted by a thermal head movable along a platen, and is transferred to a printing paper to perform printing. The present invention relates to a drive control method for a printer, and more particularly to a drive control method for a thermal transfer printer using a color ink ribbon having a plurality of ink layers called a multi-color ribbon.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 2 shows a general thermal transfer printer, in which a plate-shaped platen 2 is disposed substantially at the center of a frame 1 so that its printing surface is substantially vertical. Below the front side of the platen 2, a carriage 3 is arranged in parallel with the platen 2. A flange-shaped guide portion 4 is formed on the front edge of the frame 1, and a rack 5 is formed on an inner edge of the guide portion 4. A carriage 6 is attached to the carriage shaft 3 and the guide portion 4. The carriage 6 reciprocates along the carriage shaft 3 and the guide portion by driving a gear meshing with the rack 5 by a motor. It is free to move. A thermal head 7 is attached to the tip of the carriage 6 so as to face the platen 2.
Is mounted on the side of the cartridge 6. A marker at the end of the ink ribbon accommodated in an ink ribbon cassette (not shown) mounted on the upper surface of the cartridge 6 and each color of the color ink ribbon are displayed. A photo sensor 26 for detecting the marker section is provided.

A printing paper (not shown) is provided behind the platen 2.
Is formed in the front of the platen 2, and a paper feed roller 9 that conveys printing paper at a predetermined speed is disposed in the paper insertion port 8. Below the paper feed roller 9, a pressure roller 10, which is pressed against the paper feed roller 9, is rotatably disposed, and the paper feed roller 9 sandwiches the paper inserted from the paper insertion port 8. It is adapted to be transported.

FIG. 3 shows a carriage driving mechanism, a thermal head up mechanism and a ribbon winding mechanism in such a printer. In the carriage 6, a carriage driving motor 11 is provided. The output of the drive motor 11 is transmitted via a pinion 12 to a gear 13 that meshes with the rack 5. The carriage 6 is reciprocally movable along the carriage shaft 3 and the guide portion 4 by the forward / reverse rotation of the carriage moving motor 11.

On the platen 2 side of the carriage 6, a fixing member 14 of the thermal head 7 is pivotally mounted via a fulcrum 15.
A thermal head 7 is attached to the tip of the fixing member 14. The fixing member 14 of the thermal head 7 is in contact with one end 17a of a cam follower 17 formed as a bell crank and rotatable about a fulcrum 16 as a follower. 17b is slidably engaged with an endless cam groove 19 of a cam member 18 as a driving joint. An output pinion 23 of a thermal head-down motor 22 mounted on the carriage 6 via a transmission gear 21 meshes with a gear 20 integrally formed on the outer periphery of the cam member 18. The cam member 18 is rotated by the rotation of the head up / down motor 22, and the cam follower 17 is rotated with the rotation of the cam member 18, and the cam follower 17 is rotated by the one end portion 17 a of the cam follower 17. Then, the fixing member 14 is moved forward and backward with respect to the platen 2, and the thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen 2 via the ink ribbon and the printing paper (head down) and released (head up).

A motor 25 for driving an ink ribbon take-up bobbin 24 for winding an ink ribbon (not shown) is also provided on the carriage 6 separately from the above-described motor 22 for thermal head down, and its output pinion is provided. The ink ribbon take-up bobbin 24 is meshed with the ink ribbon take-up bobbin 24 via a transmission gear 25b via a so-called slip mechanism. Further, a sensor (not shown) for detecting the thermal head 7 up-down is provided, and the operation of the motor 25 for winding the ink ribbon is controlled by the function of this sensor in response to the thermal head 7 up-down. It has become to be.

Also, color ink ribbons 28 used for color printing
As shown in FIG. 4, yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (B) ink layers are continuously and repeatedly formed on a long ink ribbon along its length direction. It is arranged in units, and the marker portions 28a to 28b are
Are formed so that the number of markers is different for each color, for example, in FIG. 4, and each of the marker portions 28a to 28b is a photo sensor provided on the carriage 6. By detecting at 26, each color of the ink ribbon is detected and recorded in a desired color.

The drive control in such a thermal transfer printer is performed as follows.

The printing paper is inserted from the paper insertion slot 8, the printing paper is nipped by the paper feed roller 9 and the pressure roller 10, and the paper feed roller 9 is driven to rotate, so that the printing paper is moved in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage 6. A predetermined amount. And
The ink ribbon take-up motor 25 is driven to take up the ink ribbon until an ink layer of a desired color reaches a printing position. Thereafter, the motor 22 for driving the thermal head down is driven to press the thermal head 7 against the platen 2 with a predetermined pressing force. In this state, the motor 11 for driving the carriage is driven to drive the carriage 6. , The ribbon winding motor 25 is driven, and the winding bobbin 24
The desired print is made on the recording paper by driving the thermal head 7 based on a desired recording signal while rotating the ink ribbon by winding the ink ribbon. By the way, when printing is performed in a different color from the middle of printing one line, the movement of the carriage 6 is stopped at that time, and then the thermal head 7 is pulled up from the platen 2 and after the above-mentioned printing operation is completed. Ribbon winding motor 25 again
Is driven, the ribbon take-up bobbin 24 is rotated, and a marker section of a desired color, for example, 27a is detected by the photo sensor 26, and the ribbon take-up operation is stopped when the ink layer of the desired color faces the printing position. After the thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen 2 again, the carriage 6 is moved to perform the next recording. When printing of one line is completed, the carriage 6 is moved to the next printing position, and the above steps are repeated to perform the next printing. At this time, when printing on the next line, the paper feed roller 9 is rotated to perform a predetermined amount of paper feed operation in parallel with the return operation of the carriage 6, but when printing different colors on the same line, Only the return operation of the carriage 6 does not perform the paper feeding operation.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the drive control method of the conventional thermal transfer printer described above, the printing position of the ink layer of a desired color of the color ink ribbon is adjusted in preparation for the next printing during printing of one line or after finishing printing of one line. The ink ribbon winding motor 25 is driven to rotate the ribbon winding bobbin 24 so that the ink ribbon is wound, and the ink ribbon is wound.However, after the thermal head completes the up operation, the ribbon is wound. Since the take-up operation is controlled, the time from the start of the thermal head up operation until the desired color of the ink ribbon is taken up so as to face the printing position becomes longer, and as a result, the effective printing speed is reduced. It had the disadvantage of being slow.

[Means for solving the problem]

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described drawbacks, and a plurality of ink layers of a plurality of colors are arranged on a long ink ribbon in a continuous repeating unit along the length direction thereof, and between each color segment. In a thermal transfer printer using a color ink ribbon on which a marker portion representing each color is formed, upon detecting the marker portion when performing printing by selecting the color of the ink ribbon, after the start of the up operation of the thermal head and The ink ribbon winding mechanism is driven before the end of the up operation, the winding operation of the color ink ribbon is started, and the head down operation is started after the detection of the mark portion.

[Action]

 The above-described means operates as follows.

Since the ribbon winding operation is started in the middle of the thermal head up operation and the detection and cueing of the ink layer of the desired color are controlled, the color ink is started from the start of the thermal head up operation. The time required to convey the desired color of the ribbon to the printing position can be reduced.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the drive control method of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described with reference to the operation timing chart of FIG.

After the recording paper is set to a predetermined position by rotating the paper feed roller 9, the ink ribbon winding motor 25 is driven, and the winding bobbin 24 is rotated to start winding the color ink ribbon. I do. When the photo sensor 26 detects a marker of a desired color,
The thermal head down motor 22 is driven to start the thermal head 7 down operation. It takes about 0.5 seconds from the start of the thermal head 7 down operation to the contact of the thermal head 7 with the platen 2, during which time the ink ribbon is further wound up and the desired color portion faces the printing position. When the thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen 2, the slipping mechanism of the ribbon winding mechanism operates, and the rotational force of the ribbon winding motor 25 is reduced by the winding bobbin 24.
And the ink ribbon is not wound up. When the carriage 6 is moved by driving the carriage moving motor 11 after the thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen 2,
The ink ribbon is pulled out by the pressure contact between the thermal head 7 and the platen 7, and the ink ribbon is taken up by the ink ribbon take-up mechanism. At this time, the thermal head 7 is driven based on a desired recording signal. Desired printing is performed. When printing is performed in a different color in the middle of printing one line, the movement of the carriage 6 is stopped at that time, and then the operation of opening the thermal head 7 from the platen 2 is started. As soon as the ink ribbon is released, the ribbon winding motor 25 is driven, and the ribbon winding bobbin 24 is rotated to start winding the ink ribbon. The winding operation of the thermal head 7 is completed during the winding of the ink ribbon, but the winding of the ink ribbon is continued as it is, and the marker of a desired color is detected by the photo sensor.
26 starts the down operation of the thermal head 7 at the time of detection. Then, in the same manner as in the first printing, after the ink layer of the desired color is conveyed to the printing position, the down operation of the thermal head 7 ends, and the carriage is moved again to perform the next printing. When printing of one line is completed, the carriage 6 is moved to the next printing position, and the above steps are repeated to perform the next printing.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the present invention, in the thermal transfer printer using the color ink ribbon, the ink ribbon winding mechanism is driven during the thermal head up operation to perform the color ink ribbon winding operation. From the start of the head up operation, the time required to convey a desired color of the color ink ribbon to the printing position can be reduced, and as a result, the effective printing speed can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the operation timing of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention in a time series, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a general thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 3 is a thermal head up / down mechanism, a carriage transport mechanism, and the like. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a ribbon winding mechanism, and FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a color ink ribbon. 2 ... Platen, 5 ... Rack, 6 ... Carriage, 7
…… Thermal head, 11 …… Carriage drive motor,
22 ... Motor for thermal head down, 24 ... Bobbin for winding ink ribbon, 25 ... Motor for winding ribbon
26 ... Photo sensor, 27 ... Color ink ribbon, 27a,
27b, 27c, 27d …… Marker part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 33/14 B41J 35/16 B41J 35/20

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A carriage driving mechanism for reciprocating a carriage having a thermal head in a print digit direction along a platen; a head up / down mechanism for moving the thermal head toward and away from the platen; A ribbon take-up mechanism for performing a take-up operation, wherein a plurality of ink layers of a plurality of colors are arranged in a long ink ribbon in a continuous repeating unit along the length direction thereof, and a marker section representing each color between each color division In the thermal transfer printer using the color ink ribbon having the color ink ribbon formed thereon, upon detecting the marker portion when selecting the color of the ink ribbon and performing printing, after the start of the up operation of the thermal head and before the end of the up operation Then, the ink ribbon take-up mechanism is driven to start the take-up operation of the color ink ribbon, and the mark is Drive control method of the thermal transfer printer, characterized in that so as to after detection starts down operation of the thermal head.