JP3013554B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly to a printing apparatus having an automatic cutting function for automatically cutting printing paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cut paper, folded paper (perforated paper), roll paper, and the like have been used as paper for a printing apparatus.

In a printing apparatus using cut paper, it is not necessary to cut the paper, but since it is necessary to feed the paper one by one, the apparatus becomes complicated and handling is inconvenient.

In a printing apparatus using fold paper,
Since the printing paper is made of one long piece of paper folded at the perforated position, it is easy to handle, but the user has to tear it off by hand.

Further, in a printing apparatus using roll paper,
Since the printing paper is made of one roll of paper, it is compact and easy to handle, but like the folding paper printer, the printing paper must be cut and the user must do the work. Needed.

Therefore, in a printing apparatus using fold paper or roll paper, a printing apparatus having an automatic cutting function for automatically cutting the printing paper when printing is completed has been proposed for the convenience of the user. I have.

[0007]

However, in a printing apparatus having such an automatic cutting function, folding paper or roll paper is usually used, but printing and printing of cut paper in the form of a single sheet are sometimes performed. There was a request to want. However, if a cut sheet is inserted into a continuous paper printing device and printed, if the cut paper is longer than required for printing, the cut paper is automatically cut by the automatic cutting function after printing. There is a problem that the cut paper remains inside and causes a paper jam (jam).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a printing apparatus which can use roll paper and cut paper as a print medium, and which can be used without any problem even when cut paper is used. The purpose is to do.

[0009]

In order to achieve this object, a printing apparatus according to the present invention uses an ink sheet as a printing medium.
And printing means for printing Te, and a cutting means for cutting the print medium, after the printing means has printed on the printing medium, printing with an automatic disconnect feature, wherein the cutting means is automatically cutting the print medium In the apparatus, at least the
Contains an ink sheet and is detachable from the printer
And the cassette mounted on the printing device
The cassette is a cassette containing only the ink sheet.
Is determined, and based on the determination result, the medium to be printed is determined.
Determining means for determining whether the body is a single-leaf paper or a continuous paper;
The determining unit determines that the printing medium is a continuous paper.
Is the case were, enable the automatic cutting function, when the print medium is a single-leaf paper shape, and a control means for disabling the automatic disconnect feature. Also, the printing device of the present invention
Then, the cassette containing only the ink sheet and the front
A card containing a continuous paper-shaped print medium together with the ink sheet
The set may be exchangeable.

[0010]

According to the printing apparatus of the present invention having the above-described structure, the judging means comprises the camera mounted on the printing apparatus.
The set is a cassette containing only the ink sheets.
Or not, and based on the determination result,
There it is determined whether monoplane paper-like or continuous paper form, the control means, the-size
Cutting means determines that the printing medium is in the form of continuous paper.
In this case, the automatic cutting function is enabled, and after printing, the printing medium is cut by the cutting means. If it is determined that the printing medium is in the form of a single sheet, the automatic cutting function is disabled, the cutting means is not operated even after printing is completed, and the printing medium is not cut.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a tape printer 15 in a case where the printing medium is in the form of continuous paper. The tape printing device 15 is roughly divided into an upper portion and a lower portion. A thermal head 2 and a cassette 26, which will be described later, are provided on the upper portion of the tape printing device 15, and a lower portion of the tape printing device 15 is provided.
A cutter blade 13 for an automatic cutting function to be described later, a transport system such as the platen roller 4, and a sensor system are provided.

At the center of the tape printing device 15, a thermal head 2 having a heating element array in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface is supported so as to be able to separate and press against a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with release paper described later. A platen roller 4 is provided at a position facing the thermal head 2. The platen roller 4 is supported so as to be rotatable around an axis parallel to the row of heating elements, and the thermal head 2 is held between the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the ink sheet 3 by urging means (not shown). It is pressed against the roller 4. The thermal head 2 is provided with a cassette 26 mounted thereon,
Since it is obstructive at the time of removal, mounting of the cassette 26 from the printing position pressed against the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper,
It is configured so that it can be moved out of the way when it is removed.

Next, the cassette 26 will be described.

An opening 60 through which the thermal head 2 enters is provided at the upper center of the cassette 26.
Consumables necessary for printing are stored in the cassette 26. On the right inside the cassette 26, a pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet with a release sheet in which a film of paper, polyester, polypropylene, or the like is used as a base sheet, one surface of which is coated with an adhesive, and a release paper is adhered to the surface coated with the adhesive. 1 is disposed in a state of being wound in a roll shape on the sheet supply spool 8 with the release paper surface inside.

Immediately to the left, an ink sheet 3 in which hot-melt ink has been applied to a base sheet is held in a state of being wound in a roll around a ribbon supply spool 6 with the application surface inside.

A take-up spool 7 for taking up the used ink sheet 3 is disposed inside the cassette 26 on the left side of the opening 60, and on the left side of the take-up spool 7, a transparent polyester or transparent polypropylene or the like is provided. The film 17 is used as a base sheet, one side of which is coated with a highly transparent pressure-sensitive adhesive, and the transparent film 11 with release paper having a release paper adhered to the surface on which the pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied. It is arranged in a state of being wound in a roll shape with the inside facing.

The cassette 26 is provided with a transport roller 5 for transporting the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper. The release roller is provided between the cassette 26 and the transport roller 24 provided on the main body of the tape printer 15. The attached adhesive sheet 1 is conveyed therebetween.

The adhesive sheet 1 with release paper pulled out from the sheet supply spool 8 is transported by the transport roller 5 and the transport roller 2.
4 feeds between the thermal head 2 and the platen roller 4. The pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with release paper on which printing has been performed by the thermal head 2 is sent further downstream, and a pair of pressure rollers 9 and 10 are provided adjacent to the downstream, and a pair of pressure rollers 9 The adhesive sheet 1 with the release paper after printing is sandwiched between the transparent film 17 of the transparent film 11 with the release paper and the printed sheet 10 between.

The transparent film with release paper 11 drawn from the supply spool 12 is supplied between the separation roller 14 and the pressure roller 9 and separated into release paper 16 and transparent film 17. After being separated from the transparent film 17, the release paper 16 is wound on the take-up spool 7 together with the ink sheet 3 after the transfer processing. On the other hand, the transparent film 17 is fed between the pressure rollers 9 and 10, and the pressure-sensitive adhesive applied to the transparent film 17 causes the pressure roller 9,
10 to form an output image 25.

Next, a cutter blade 13 for cutting the output image 25 is held by a cutter driving mechanism 31 (not shown in FIG. 1) at the lower part of the main body on the downstream side of the pressure rollers 9, 10. The output image 2 is located at a position facing the cutter blade 13 of the cassette 26 in cooperation with the cutter blade 13.
5, a cutter table 29 is provided. FIG.
The cutter driving mechanism 31 not shown in the figure includes a solenoid,
Driven by a known drive source such as a motor
By driving the cutter blade 13 in the direction and pressing the cutter blade 13 against the cutter table 29, the printed output image 25 is cut.

The output image 25 having been printed is discharged out of the cassette through a discharge port 50 provided in the cassette 26, and is also discharged from the tape printer 15.

On the right side (upstream side) of the transport roller 5 and the transport roller 24 at the lower part of the apparatus, a cassette presence / absence detection sensor 23 which contacts the cassettes 26 and 27 to detect the presence or absence of the cassette, Is provided with a cassette selection sensor 20 for detecting whether is a cassette 26 or a cassette 27.

Further, a jam detection sensor 21 for detecting a paper jam or the like is provided on the left side (downstream side) of the transport roller 5 and the transport roller 24. Note that the jam detection sensor 21 also serves as a paper presence / absence detection sensor for the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper when the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper is supplied from the cassette 26 (FIG. 1).

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the tape printing apparatus 1 in the case where the printing medium is in the form of a single sheet and is supplied from the outside.
5 will be described.

The only difference from FIG. 1 is that a cassette 27 is mounted in place of the cassette 26. Therefore, only the cassette 27 will be described.

The cassette 27 holds an ink sheet 3 in which hot-melt ink is applied to a base sheet in a state where the ink sheet 3 is wound in a roll shape around a ribbon supply spool 6 with the application surface inside. Only the take-up spool 7 for taking up the used ink sheet 3 is disposed inside the other cassette 27. In addition to the discharge port 50, the cassette 27 has a cut sheet 2 which is a single sheet.
An insertion port 51 is provided as an insertion port 8, and a detection port 52 is provided at a position corresponding to the cassette selection sensor 20.

When the cassette 27 is mounted, the cassette selection sensor 20 also functions as a sheet detection sensor. Therefore, when the cut sheet 28 is inserted in the direction indicated by the arrow C from the insertion port 51 of the cassette 27. Further, the actuator section of the cassette selection sensor 20 can come into contact with the cut sheet 28.

FIG. 3 shows a control configuration of the present invention. C
The PU 35 is connected to the ROM 38, the RAM 39, the input unit 36, and the display unit 3 via the address bus 41 and the data bus 40.
7 is connected. The CPU 35 is connected to the thermal head control circuit 32, the transport motor driver 33, and the cutter mechanism control circuit 34. The thermal head control circuit 32, the transport motor driver 33, and the cutter mechanism control circuit 34 30,
It is connected to the cutter drive mechanism 31. Further CPU
35, a cassette selection sensor 20, a jam detection sensor 21, and a cassette presence / absence detection sensor 23 are connected.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 15 thus configured will be described with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG.

First, the data input from the input unit 36 is recognized by the CPU 35, stored in the RAM 39, and displayed on the display unit 37. The CPU 35 determines whether or not the cassette 26 or the cassette 27 is mounted on the basis of the detection result of the cassette presence / absence detection sensor 23, and if it is mounted, the operation is continued, and if not, the fact is displayed. Stop the operation (not shown in the flowchart).

If the operation is to be continued, the CPU 3
5 generates a dot pattern of a character to be printed based on the input data and stores it in a print buffer which is a part of the RAM 39.

Next, the CPU 35 determines the cassette 26 or the cassette 2 based on the detection result of the cassette selection sensor 20.
7 is determined, that is, whether the print medium is continuous paper or single sheet paper (S1). If it is determined that the cassette 26 is mounted, the jam detection sensor 21 ( In this case, the sensor (which has a role as a paper presence / absence detection sensor) is checked (S2), and the jam detection
If 1 is off, it is determined that the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with release paper has run out, and an empty process is performed. Jam detection sensor 2
If 1 is on, it is determined that there is no problem in processing continuation, and the printing process (S8 to S10) is started.

If it is determined that the cassette 27 is mounted, the CPU 35 waits until the cut sheet 28 is inserted from the insertion port 51 in the direction of arrow C in the figure and the cassette selection sensor 20 is turned on (see FIG. 4). S3).

When the cassette selection sensor 20 is turned on, C
The PU 35 drives the transport motor 30 through the transport motor driver 33, and transports the cut sheet 28 between the thermal head 2 and the platen roller 4 by the transport roller 5 and the transport roller 24 connected to the transport motor 30 (S
4). Therefore, when inserting the cut sheet 28, it is necessary to insert the cut sheet 28 until the cut sheet 28 reaches the transport roller 5 and the transport roller 24.

Here, the CPU 35 is provided with the thermal head 2
The jam detection sensor 21 provided to clarify the transport distance to the thermal head 2 and to detect that the cut sheet 28 did not reach the thermal head 2 for some reason (S5). When the paper reaches the sensor 21 and the jam detection sensor 21 is turned on, the cut paper 28 is printed only at a distance necessary for reaching the thermal head 2 or additionally at a desired position. The ink sheet 3 and the cut sheet 28 are conveyed synchronously by a distance obtained by adding the distance necessary for feeding (S
7), and enters a printing process (S8 to S10).

If the cut sheet 28 is detected by the jam detection sensor 2
1 and the jam detection sensor 21 is off, the CPU 35 determines whether or not the cut sheet 28 has already been conveyed by a predetermined amount sufficient to reach the jam detection sensor 21. It is determined (S6), and if it has already been transported, it is determined that the cut sheet 28 has not been properly transported for some reason, and the jam processing is started. If a predetermined amount sufficient for the cut sheet 28 to reach the jam detection sensor 21 has not been conveyed yet, the flow returns to S4 and is conveyed until the cut sheet 28 reaches the jam detection sensor 21.

When the printing process starts, the CPU 35
Transfers the data for one line of the thermal head from the print buffer to the thermal head 2 after deciding the printing position (S8), and performs printing for one line (S9). Then, the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the ink sheet 3 or the cut paper 28 and the ink sheet 3 are respectively conveyed by one line for the next printing (S10).

The CPU 35 determines whether or not all the data transfer has been completed (S11). If data to be printed still remains, the CPU 35 proceeds to S8, S9, S1 until the data transfer is completed.
Repeat 0.

At this time, when the cassette 26 is mounted, the pressure rollers 9 and 10 are connected to the transparent film 17 after the release paper 16 of the transparent film 11 with the release sheet is separated by the separation roller 14 and the end of printing. With the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper sandwiched therebetween, the sheet is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by a transport motor 30 not shown in FIG. In synchronization with this, the take-up spool 7 rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 to take up the ink sheet 3 and the release paper 16.

When the pressure rollers 9 and 10 rotate while laminating the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the transparent film 17, the transparent film 17 adheres to the printing surface side of the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper via an adhesive. Attached. As a result, an output image 25 in which the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the transparent film 17 are integrated is formed.

When the cassette 27 is mounted,
The pressure rollers 9 and 10 serve as transport rollers, rotate in the direction of arrow A in the drawing, and transport the adhesive sheet 1 with the printed release paper (in this case, with the printed release paper). The adhesive sheet 1 becomes the output image 25 as it is).

When all printing is completed, the CPU 35
It is checked whether the print medium is continuous paper or single sheet paper (S12). If the print medium is single sheet paper (with the cassette 27 attached), the jam detection sensor 21 is turned off, that is, cutting is performed. The ink sheet 3 and the cut sheet 28 are transported until the end of the sheet 28 moves to the vicinity of the thermal head 2 (S13, S14).

Here, if an unusually long cut sheet 28 is inserted, the print sheet 3 is consumed at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to set an upper limit for the feed amount. A mechanism for moving the thermal head 2 in a direction away from the platen roller 4 is required so that the transport systems such as the platen roller 7 and the platen roller 4 can be driven independently.

The printing medium is continuous paper (cassette 26
When all the data transfer is completed, and when the print medium is a single sheet paper (cassette 27 is mounted) and the jam detection sensor 21 is turned off, the discharge port 50 of each cassette is set.
In order to discharge the output image 25, the adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the ink sheet 3 or the cut paper 28 and the ink sheet 3 are transported by a predetermined amount (S15). The predetermined transport amount includes a trailing margin set in advance.

When the transfer of the predetermined amount in S15 is completed, the CP
U35 checks whether the print medium is continuous paper or single sheet paper (S16). If the print medium is single sheet paper (with cassette 27 installed), the cutter drive mechanism 31 is turned on.
Is not driven, and the printing operation is terminated without cutting the output image 25 by the cutter blade 13.

If the printing medium is continuous paper, C
The PU 35 drives the cutter blade 13 in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1 through the cutter mechanism control circuit 34 and the cutter drive mechanism 31 and presses the cutter blade 29 against the cutter table 29 to cut the output image 25 on which printing has been completed ( S17), the printing operation ends.

As described above, the roll-shaped pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with release paper and the cut paper 28 are
Can be easily used by exchanging the tape. Further, when the pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet 1 with roll-shaped release paper is used, the tape is automatically cut at the end of printing, and when the cut paper 28 is used, the function is performed. Not to be
There is an effect that a jam inside the printing device can be prevented beforehand.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the printing device 15 is not necessarily
It is not necessary to be composed of the ink sheet 3 and the ink jet method, but may be an ink jet method or another method or constitution.

In addition, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0051]

As is clear from the above description,
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the printing apparatus of this invention, the effect which can provide the printing apparatus which can use roll paper and cut paper as a print medium, and can use it even if it uses cut paper, without causing trouble by unnecessary cutting operation. is there.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing apparatus when continuous paper is used.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a printing apparatus when a single sheet of paper is used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a control configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a control flow of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 adhesive sheet with release paper 2 thermal head 3 ink sheet 7 take-up spool 9 pressure roller 10 pressure roller 11 transparent film with release sheet 13 cutter blade 15 printing device 23 cassette presence detection sensor 26 cassette 27 cassette

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A printing means for printing on a printing medium using an ink sheet; and a cutting means for cutting the printing medium. After the printing means prints on the printing medium, the cutting means automatically In a printing apparatus having an automatic cutting function for cutting the printing medium, at least the ink sheet is housed, and the printing apparatus
The cassette configured to be detachable and the cassette attached to the printing device
Discriminates whether or not the cassette contains only sheet
Then, based on the result of the determination, the printing medium is
Determining means for determining whether the printing medium is continuous paper, and determining that the printing medium is continuous paper by the determining means;
If it is determined, it enables the automatic disconnect feature, wherein when the print medium is a single-leaf paper shape, a printing apparatus characterized by comprising a control means for disabling the automatic disconnect feature. 2. A cassette containing only the ink sheet.
And a continuous paper-shaped printing medium together with the ink sheet.
Characterized in that it can be replaced with a cassette that contains
The printing device according to claim 1.