JP3051573B2 - Printer or similar output device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises at least one means for detecting a document provided in combination with a pay-per-transport path, said means comprising a photo-emitter and a photo-detector, wherein said photo-detector is a pay-per-transport. A document located in a passage, and thus a document supplied to the light propagation path between the photoemitter and the photodetector, causes a change in the amount of light received by the photodetector, the document supplied into the paper transport path. A printer or similar output device that produces characters on top of the printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, printers used in banking use a photoelectric component to detect the presence of a document. Such components can be used in several ways, typically in three different ways. First, a light source, eg, an LED that emits infrared light
Can be provided at the bottom of the paper transport path, and a phototransistor can be provided at a corresponding point on the upper surface of the paper transport path, wherein the phototransistor is free of obstruction, i.e., no document is located between the LED and the phototransistor. At this time, the light emitted by the LED is detected. The second basic principle is that both the light source and the photodetector are located at the bottom of the paper transport path, thus allowing light to propagate between them when a document with a reflecting lower surface is positioned over them. It is. A third basic principle is that both the photoemitter and the photodetector are located as above, ie, at the bottom of the paper transport path, but they are located at the top of the paper transport path, Are continuously connected to each other through means for reflecting light, for example, a prism. In this case,
The connection between the photoemitter and the photodetector is broken when the document is fed into the paper transport path. The aforementioned spot-like detector is typically provided at the edge of the paper transport path near the edge guide. When using this type of printer, the document must be positioned against the edge guide,
It is therefore sufficient to position the document detector near the edge guide. In such a case,
The presence of a document in the paper transport path can be detected by a single spot-like detector.

[0003] To detect whether a document is straight in the paper transport path, that is, whether its back edge is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the paper transport path, the aforementioned basic detection is used. Based on the container, a more advanced structure is used, in which two detectors of the aforementioned type are collinear, this line being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the paper transport path. When only one of these detectors indicates the presence of a document in the pay-per-transport path, it knows that the document is not straight.
Conversely, when both detectors detect the presence of a document, they know that the document is straight. this is,
Of course, it requires that the line on which the detector is located be perpendicular to the back edge guide for the document. The purpose of the back edge guide is to ensure that the document is straight before being fed into the pay-per transport path.

[0004] In a printer where the supply of documents is virtually possible at any lateral position of the pay-per transport path, ie the documents need not be positioned against the side edge guides, the documents, of course, also Can be detected using detectors of the type described above, provided that a sufficient number of detectors are located on a line extending across the pay-per transport path. However, when they are used, the problem arises that the signals of several photoemitters, in particular several photodetectors, must be observed simultaneously. While it is easy to observe several photodetectors simultaneously, conventional solutions increase the need for wiring and complicate the detector itself. These factors are
It is also important in view of the competitiveness of products in printers intended for mass production and which should also be as small as possible.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a pay-per-use system.
-Documents are installed in combination with
Detects whether it is perpendicular to the transport path
At least one means, said means being less
Both have one light source and two photodetectors,
Light detector is perpendicular to the paper transport path
Line, the photodetectors are positioned along the
Between the photoemitter and photodetector.
Supply to the light propagation path at right angles to the pay-per transport path
Document is the amount of light received by the two photodetectors
Supplied in the pay-per-transport passage, causing a change in
Printer that generates text on top of the document
In such an output device, the optical means is a photoemitter
Is provided on the light propagation path between the
Optical means are located on opposing surfaces of the paper transport path.
The light before paying it on the photodetector.
-Characterized by passing several times across the transport path
By providing a printer or similar output device
Achieved.

[0006] A printer or similar output device according to the present invention can be used to monitor whether a document is at right angles to the pay-per-transport path, and thus in the event that the photodetectors must be positioned in pairs. Is provided on the paper transport path between the photoemitter and the photodetector, wherein the optical means is located on the opposing surface of the paper transport path, and thus before the light falls on the photodetector, Light is passed several times across the paper transport path.

Preferably, the optical means comprises a prism, which deflects the light beam so that the light beam passes across the paper transport path again from a point spaced laterally from the entry point in the paper transport path. .

In a preferred embodiment, the optical means used to determine whether a document is right angle is a prism, the prism consisting of two light entrances and two light exits, and thus both light propagation paths To form a part of

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A printer or similar output device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
A reference example that can be referred to at this time will be described, and then refer to FIG.
Then, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows the optical means located in the paper transport path 1 of the printer, where a document (not shown) is supplied in the light propagation path between the photoemitter U1 and the photodetector Q1.
Causes a change in the signal received by photodetector Q1 when it is delivered to virtually any lateral location in the paper transport path. This property is that light is propagated several times between the upper and lower surfaces of the paper transport path 1 from the point that they are laterally spaced apart from each other by using the optical means 2. Achieved by In reference example of FIG. 1, the optical unit 2 is made of a prism, the prism, first receives the light beam,
Then it is refracted, so that after the light rays have propagated in the transverse direction of the paper transport path 1, they again cross the paper transport path from another point. By sizing the prism in the desired manner, the desired number of points at the desired spacing is achieved, from which light rays traverse the paper transport path.
With proper sizing of the prism 2, such points can be provided at intervals such that a document equal to or larger than the minimum acceptable document is always reliably detected. The prism 2 in the reference example of FIG. 1 refracts the light beam so that the light beam propagates vertically across the paper transport path 1, but also refracts the light beam obliquely across the paper transport path. Can be refracted, in which case the optical means could have a simpler structure. Most simply, a light beam could be passed from the photoemitter to the photodetector, over the paper transport path, laterally along a zig-zag path, using a more reflective mirror surface. . However, when using it 1
One problem is forming sufficiently thin light beams. This property is improved in the embodiment of FIG. 1 wherein an optical mask 2 is provided on both surfaces of the paper transport path and an optical mask 9 in front of both the photoemitter U1 and the photodetector Q1. The mask only allows narrow light rays to pass. In this way, the detection is carried out in a location that is as sensitive as possible, and the perturbing effect of light pouring from the environment onto the detector is avoided. The effects of the environment can be further reduced by modulating the light emitted by the photoemitter in a desired manner.

The arrangement shown in FIG. 1 allows the entire pay-per-transport path to be monitored, if desired, by a single photo-emitter and a single photo-detector. However, if the pay-per transport path is relatively wide, some of the arrangements shown in FIG. 1 can be provided side by side in the lateral direction of the pay-per transport path. This is primarily due to the fact that the intensity of the optical signal over its propagation path can no longer be reliably detected.
Is to decrease.

FIG. 1 shows that the optical means 2 is formed by a prism, which is very simple to manufacture, for example, by casting from a plastic material. The cost of such a prism is so low that in practice it is substantially lower than the cost of an individual photoemitter or photodetector. In addition, the dimensions of such cast objects can be made very accurately; such objects can also easily have projections or the like to facilitate installation. Alternatively, the optical means shown in FIG. 3 can be used instead of the prism of FIG. The optical means of FIG. 3 consists of a length of optical fiber bent into an arc shape. Each optical means 2 in FIG. 2 will thereby be replaced by one length of fiber. However, a problem with the use of optical fibers is that their minimum acceptable bending radius is relatively large, and therefore requires a relatively large space in the height of the paper transport path. Moreover, they are difficult to install with sufficient accuracy.

FIG . 2 shows whether the document is at right angles.
Fig. 3 shows an apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for detecting such a situation. When detecting whether a right angle to the vertical direction of the paper transport path is to be detected, two detectors located on a line transverse to the paper transport path are typically used. If the document can be fed in virtually any lateral direction of the paper transport path, it is necessary to provide several such pairs of detectors laterally of the paper transport path. The solution to this problem is shown in FIG. 2, where the photoemitter and photodetector pairs U1, Q, respectively,
1 and the propagation of light between U2 and Q1 is similarly controlled with respect to the reference example of FIG. Thus, the propagation of light is controlled by the optical means 4, so that the light traverses the paper transport path 1 several times and passes from points spaced laterally from each other in the path. Since there are two signals that are transferred and received in this way,
The optical means 4 must be designed in view of the propagation of the two signals. Thus, they consist of two light inlets 5 and 6 and two light outlets 7 and 8, respectively. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the signal transmitted by the photoemitter U1 enters the prism through the entrance 5 and is then refracted in the prism 4, so that the signal exits the prism through the exit 7. Correspondingly, the photo emitter U
The signal carried by 2 enters the prism through inlet 6 and leaves there through outlet 8. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the signal paths intersect, but this is not a problem due to the nature of the light.

The production of the optical means used in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 has the same advantages provided by the production of a series of plastic objects as the production of the optical means 2 shown in FIG. Thus, the cost of the embodiment of FIG. 2 will be very low.

FIG. 3 shows another means of the optical means 4 of FIG. Another optical means, shown in FIG. 3, consists of two lengths of optical fiber bent into an arc and positioned to overlap each other, thus also overlapping the light propagation paths.
The structure shown in FIG. 3 has the same problems as the previously described optical fibers of the same length.

Typically, the photoemitters are LEDs that emit infrared radiation, but they also consist of some other type of light emitting component; in the embodiment of FIG.
A single large area photoemitter that emits two optical signals through the aperture in the optical mask 9 could also be used. The light detector is subsequently preferably a phototransistor. However,
The nature of the photoemitters and photodetectors can differ from those described above; in fact, the use of all common photosensitive components is possible in a printer according to the invention, provided that they transport light or Alternatively, it may be applied in such a way that it is special for these components to receive. For the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 2, and also connect the signals from photodetectors Q1 and Q2 to logic means in a conventional manner, which logic means that the document has been fed into the paper transport path. It detects when both signals are in the state shown. In such a case, the document is known to be at right angles to the paper transport path when the detector is positioned at a right angle in the edge guide behind the document.

A printer or similar output device according to the present invention, and in particular a means provided therein for detecting whether a document is present or at right angles, is provided in some illustrative implementations. Although described above by way of example, it is to be understood that certain modifications are possible in the foregoing structural arrangements without departing from the scope of protection defined in the appended claims.

The main features and aspects of the present invention are as follows.

1 . Established in combination with pay-per-transportation passage
Documents are at right angles to the pay-per-transport
At least one means for detecting whether there is
Said means comprises at least one light source and two light detectors.
A light emitting device, and the photodetector is disposed in a paper transport path.
The photodetector is located on the same line that is perpendicular to
-Located along the transport path and thus the photo-emitter
Between the light detector and the photodetector
Documents delivered at right angles to the road
Pay-per-transport, causing a change in the amount of light received by the emitter
Generate text on top of documents served in the route
Optical hand in a printer or similar output device
Step on light propagation path between photoemitter and photodetector
And the optical means is a pay-per-transport path.
On the opposite surface of the
Before pouring, light is passed several times across the pay-per transport path.
A printer or similar output device. 2 . The optical means comprises a prism (2), which deflects the light beam, such that the light beam again passes across the paper transport path from a point spaced laterally from the entry point of the paper transport path. A printer or similar output device according to the above item 1 , characterized in that: 3 . The optical means consists of an optical fiber of a certain length (3),
Wherein the optical fiber is bent into an arc shape that deflects the light beam, such that the light beam again passes across the paper transport path from a point spaced laterally from the entry point of the paper transport path. The printer according to claim 1 , or a similar output device. 4 . The optical means is a prism (4), which consists of two light entrances (5, 6) and two light exits (7, 8), thus forming part of both light propagation paths, The printer or similar output device according to the above item 1 , characterized in that:

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a reference example that can be referred to when carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention for detecting whether a document is at right angles.

FIG. 3 illustrates another embodiment of an optical means that can be used with the apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper transport passage 2 optical means, prism 4 optical means, prism 5 light entrance 6 light entrance 7 light exit 8 light exit 9 optical mask

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A 61-21990 (JP, U) JP-A 57-86478 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 7/14

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method according to claim 1, further comprising at least one means for detecting whether the document is at right angles to the pay-per-transport path, wherein the means comprises at least one light source and two light sources. A photodetector, wherein the photodetector is co-linear with the paper transport path and the photodetector is located along the paper transport path, thus between the photoemitter and the photodetector. Documents fed into the light propagation path at right angles to the paper transport path produce characters on the document fed into the paper path, causing a change in the amount of light received by the two photodetectors. In a printer or similar output device, optical means are provided on the light propagation path between the photoemitter and the photodetector, and A printer or similar, characterized in that the optical means is located on opposing surfaces of the paper transport path, thus allowing light to pass several times across the paper transport path before the light impinges on the photodetector. Output device.