JP3861507B2 - Method for detecting recording medium in printer - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printer that performs printing on a recording medium having a continuous shape such as continuous paper, and more particularly to a technique for reliably loading the recording medium into the printer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a conventional printer, printing is performed using a recording medium cut into a predetermined length such as a cut sheet, continuous paper, and a single or plural print heads, and each recording medium is conveyed. A conveyance path is provided. In some cases, both of the transport paths merge in some cases due to printing using a single print head or restrictions on the layout of the transport paths.
[0003]
In such a configuration, the curvature of the conveyance path for cut sheets is usually set small to avoid paper jams, and the curvature of the conveyance path for continuous paper is set large to achieve separation of both conveyance paths. is doing. A detector for detecting the presence or absence of each recording medium is provided on both transport paths.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described conventional printer, it has not been possible to detect whether or not the continuous paper has passed through the above merging point and again entered the continuous paper conveyance path. When entering the sheet transport path, both the continuous paper and the cut sheet are placed in the transport path, which causes a paper jam and a printing failure. Further, since the continuous paper is not discharged from the predetermined discharge port, there is a problem that even when a cutter is provided at the discharge port, the continuous paper cannot be cut by the cutter.
[0005]
The present invention solves such a problem, and detects when the continuous paper enters the paper path of the cut sheet without entering the predetermined transport path from the merging point to the operator or the host device. The purpose is to prevent paper jams, printing defects, and discharge abnormalities.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve such an object, a recording medium detection method in the printer of the present invention includes a continuous medium conveyance path for guiding a long continuous medium, a single sheet medium conveyance path for guiding a sheet-shaped single medium, The continuous medium conveyance path and the single sheet medium conveyance path merge in the middle of the path, and both the continuous medium and the single sheet medium are conveyed, and the upstream side of the common conveyance path A method for detecting a recording medium in a printer, comprising: a first medium detector disposed on a continuous medium conveyance path; and a second medium detector disposed on the cut sheet medium conveyance path downstream of the common conveyance path. In the first medium detector, the first medium detector detects the insertion of the continuous recording medium into the continuous medium conveyance path, and the continuous paper detected in the first medium detection step A conveying step of conveying along the continuous medium conveying path, and a second medium detecting step of detecting the presence or absence of the continuous paper on the cut sheet medium conveying path by the second medium detector during the conveying process; When the continuous medium is detected in the second medium detecting step, an error display or an external device is displayed when the conveying step is stopped and the continuous medium is detected in the second medium detecting step. And an abnormality notification step for notifying abnormality.
In this case, the printer further includes a third medium detector disposed on the cut sheet medium conveyance path upstream of the common conveyance path, and the third medium detector detects the cut sheet medium. A third medium detection step for detecting insertion into the single-cut medium conveyance path; and a conveyance step for conveying the single-cut medium detected in the third medium detection process along the single-cut medium conveyance path; And a fourth medium detecting step of detecting that the single-cut medium is removed from the single-cut medium transport path by the second medium detector.
[0013]
By including the above steps, it is possible to detect that the continuous medium is erroneously loaded in the single-cut medium conveyance path, and therefore it is possible to prevent paper jams and printing defects by using the signal.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
[0015]
1 to 6 are side views showing the overall configuration of the present embodiment, and FIG. 1 is a side view showing a state in which the continuous paper 41 is printed, in a state in which the continuous paper 41 is normally loaded. 2 is a side view showing a state in which the cut sheet 42 is loaded, and shows a state in which the sub cut sheet pressing roller 24 is opened. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the cut sheet 42 is printed. FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state in which the printing of the cut sheet 42 is completed, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which the continuous paper 41 is inserted and set, and the continuous paper guide lower 17 is opened. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state in which the continuous paper 41 is erroneously loaded.
[0016]
First, the state when the continuous paper 41 is printed will be described with reference to FIG.
[0017]
The continuous paper 41 normally passes from the supply unit 51 through the guide roller 15, between the sub continuous paper feed roller 13 and the sub continuous paper pressing roller 14, between the continuous paper guide top 16 and the continuous paper guide bottom 17, and through the guide shaft 2. To the print head 1 guided so as to be movable in the paper width direction, passes through the platen 3, is guided by the auxiliary paper guide 18, and is fed to the continuous paper feed roller 11 and the continuous paper press roller 12. It is discharged in the direction of arrow X, which is the discharge direction. At this time, the paper detector 31 is not performing paper detection. Then, the print head 1 performs printing for one line on the continuous paper 41 while moving in the paper width direction along the guide shaft 2, stops, and then is continuously sandwiched between the continuous paper feed roller 11 and the continuous paper pressing roller 12. The paper 41 is fed by the rotation of the continuous paper feed roller 11.
[0018]
Next, the operation for printing the cut sheet 42 will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0019]
First, when printing the cut paper 42, when the paper detector 31 detects the presence of paper when the data for printing the cut paper 42 is sent from the host side that controls the printer, the cut paper discharge is performed. The cut sheet feed roller 21 and the sub cut sheet feed roller 23 are rotated so as to discharge the cut sheet 42 in the direction of arrow Z, which is the direction. Then, the paper detector 31 confirms again whether paper remains in the paper path.
[0020]
If the presence of paper is detected at this time, an error display or paper presence display is performed by the printer, or a paper presence signal is sent to the host side and the printer cannot proceed to the next operation. That is, after confirming that the cut sheet 42 is no longer in the paper path, the process proceeds to the next operation. It may be possible to change how many times the confirmation operation is performed by the initial setting of the printer.
[0021]
Then, the printing operation is started. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the sub-cut sheet presser roller opening / closing lever 25 is operated and the interlocked sub-cut sheet press roller 24 is released from the sub-cut sheet feed roller 23, and the cut-sheet paper path made up of the cut-sheet guide 26 is formed. open. Then, the user inserts the cut sheet 42 into the cut sheet guide 26 from the arrow Y direction in which the cut sheet 42 is inserted.
[0022]
When the cut sheet detector 33 disposed behind the sub cut sheet feed roller 23 detects the leading edge 42a of the cut sheet 42, the sub cut sheet pressing roller opening / closing lever 25 is actuated to operate the sub cut sheet pressing roller. 24 is brought into contact with the sub-single paper feed roller 23, and the sub-single paper feed roller 23 is rotated to start paper feeding.
[0023]
Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the cut sheet 42 passes between the cut sheet feed roller 21 and the cut sheet press roller 22 in contact with the cut sheet feed roller 21, and the print head 1 and the platen 3, and printing is performed in the same manner as the continuous paper 41. At this time, the continuous paper 41 may be present in the printing unit. The printed cut sheet 42 passes in front of the paper detector 31 by the cut sheet feed roller 21 and the cut sheet press roller 22 in contact with the cut sheet feed roller 21 in the cut sheet discharge direction. It is discharged in a certain arrow Z direction.
[0024]
Then, as shown in FIG. 4, when all printing is completed, the cut sheet feed roller 21 and the cut sheet press roller 22 in contact with the cut sheet feed roller 21 feed the discharged paper. At this time, the rear end 42b of the cut sheet 42 is detected by the cut sheet detector 33, and the distance from the cut sheet detector 33 to the distance of the cut sheet feed roller 21 is fed to the rear of the cut sheet 42. The end 42b can be fed to the cut sheet feeding roller 21, and the sheet feeding is completed.
[0025]
However, at this time, since the cut sheet feeding roller 21 is below the printing unit, the paper cannot be removed from the printing unit even if the discharging operation is performed. Therefore, until the user of the printer surely removes the cut paper 42, the paper detection 31 outputs a paper presence signal and displays the printer paper presence or sends a paper presence signal to the host side and does not advance the printer to the next operation. . Then, the user of the printer securely removes the cut sheet 42 and confirms that the cut sheet 42 disappears, and then permits the next operation (continuous sheet printing or the like).
[0026]
A case where the next continuous paper 41 is set will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0027]
When the continuous paper 41 runs out, the continuous paper detector 32 issues a paper out signal, and the sub continuous paper press roller 14 attached to the continuous paper guide lower 17 and the continuous paper guide lower 17 is operated to start the sub continuous paper feed roller 13. It is made easy to insert the continuous paper 41.
[0028]
When the user inserts the continuous paper 41 as shown in FIG. 5, the continuous paper detector 32 detects the continuous paper 41 and operates the continuous paper guide lower 17 and the sub continuous paper pressing roller 14 to continuously feed the continuous paper feed roller 13. The paper feed is started upon contact. The continuous paper 41 fed to the sub continuous paper feed roller 13 passes between the continuous paper guide top 16 and the continuous paper guide bottom 17, reaches the print head 1 that is guided by the guide shaft 2 so as to be movable in the paper width direction, and reaches the platen. 3, guided by the auxiliary paper guide 18, sent to the continuous paper feed roller 11 and the continuous paper press roller 12, and discharged in the direction of arrow X, which is the discharge direction of the continuous paper 41. The continuous paper 41 in FIG. 1 is normally loaded and ready for printing.
[0029]
However, when the continuous paper is set, the printing unit is common, and the subsequent paper path is divided by the auxiliary paper guide 18 in the single sheet conveyance path in the arrow Z direction, which is the discharge direction of the single paper 42, and the discharge direction of the continuous paper 41. It is divided into a continuous conveyance path in a certain arrow X direction.
[0030]
For this reason, the cut sheet 42 is not the state in which the continuous paper 41 should normally be normally loaded as shown in FIG. 6, that is, the state of the continuous paper 41c (indicated by a wavy line) in the arrow X direction, which is the normally loaded discharge direction. May enter the state of the continuous paper 41a, which is the single sheet conveyance path in the direction of arrow Z, which is the discharge direction.
[0031]
At this time, since the cut sheet 42 is not printed, it is normal for the paper detector 31 to have no paper. That is, when the paper detector 31 detects the presence of paper during the setting operation of the continuous paper 41, it can be detected as an erroneous insertion of the continuous paper 41.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, the printer of the present invention includes a continuous medium conveyance path for conveying the continuous medium, a single sheet medium conveyance path for conveying the single sheet medium, and the continuous medium conveyance path. The single-cut medium transport path joins in the middle of the path, and the continuous medium and the single-cut medium are transported together, and the single-cut medium transport path on the downstream side through the common transport path The medium detector capable of detecting the continuous medium and the cut sheet medium is detected by the medium detector so that the continuous medium is erroneously loaded into the single sheet medium conveyance path. can do.
[0033]
As a result, it becomes possible to detect when continuous paper enters the paper path of the cut sheet without entering the predetermined transport path from the merging point and notify the operator or the host device of the paper jam. And printing defects and discharge abnormalities can be prevented.
[0034]
In addition, a print head that selectively prints on the cut sheet medium and the continuous medium is disposed at the merging point, and is disposed on the cut sheet conveyance path from the merging point to the cut sheet medium discharge port, In the case of having a detector that detects the presence or absence of a cut sheet medium, and the detector that detects the presence or absence of the continuous medium and the detector that detects the presence or absence of the cut sheet medium are the same detector, 1 With one detector, it is possible to detect cut sheet discharge and erroneous insertion detection of continuous paper, and it is possible to realize a highly reliable and low-cost printer with a simple configuration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a continuous paper is normally loaded.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the printer, in which a sub cut sheet pressing roller 24 is opened.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which a cut sheet of the printer is printed.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing a state where printing of a cut sheet of the printer is finished.
FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which continuous paper is inserted and set in the printer, and shows a state in which a continuous paper guide is opened.
FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state in which continuous paper of the printer is erroneously loaded.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Print head 2 Guide shaft 3 Platen 11 Continuous paper feed roller 12 Continuous paper press roller 13 Sub continuous paper feed roller 14 Sub continuous paper press roller 15 Guide roller 16 Continuous paper guide top 17 Continuous paper guide bottom 18 Auxiliary paper guide 21 Single sheet Paper feed roller 22 Single paper press roller 23 Sub single paper feed roller 24 Sub single paper press roller 25 Sub single paper press roller open / close lever 26 Single paper guide 31 Paper detector 32 Continuous paper detector 33 Single paper Detector 41 Continuous paper 42 Cut paper 51 Supply section

Claims (2)

A continuous medium conveyance path for guiding a long continuous medium, a single sheet medium conveyance path for guiding a sheet-shaped single sheet medium, and the continuous medium conveyance path and the single sheet medium conveyance path merge in the middle of the path. And a common transport path through which both the continuous medium and the cut sheet medium are transported, a first medium detector disposed on the continuous medium transport path upstream of the common transport path, and the common transport. In a method for detecting a recording medium in a printer having a second medium detector disposed on the cut sheet medium conveyance path downstream of the path,
A first medium detection step of detecting insertion of the continuous recording medium into the continuous medium transport path by the first medium detector;
A conveying step of conveying the continuous paper detected in the first medium detecting step along the continuous medium conveying path;
A second medium detection step of detecting the presence or absence of the continuous paper on the cut sheet medium conveyance path by the second medium detector during the conveyance step;
When the continuous medium is detected in the second medium detecting step, a stopping step of stopping the conveying step;
A method of detecting a recording medium in a printer, comprising: an abnormality notification step of displaying an error or notifying an external device of an abnormality when the continuous medium is detected in the second medium detection step. 2. The recording medium detection method according to claim 1, wherein the printer further includes a third medium detector disposed on the cut sheet medium conveyance path upstream of the common conveyance path,
A third medium detection step of detecting insertion of the single-cut medium into the single-cut medium transport path by the third medium detector;
A transporting step of transporting the single-cut medium detected in the third medium detecting step along the single-cut medium transporting path;
And a fourth medium detecting step of detecting that the single-cut medium has been removed from the single-cut medium transport path by the second medium detector.

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