JP4154586B2 - Printing and cutting equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing and cutting apparatus for printing a figure such as a character or a symbol on a long sheet by a thermal head or the like and cutting the sheet along the outline of the printed figure.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, printing means for printing characters, figures, etc. by thermal transfer etc. on the surface of a vinyl sheet adhered to a long sheet wound in a roll shape, and the outlines of the characters, figures printed by the printing means 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a printing and cutting apparatus provided with cutting means for cutting a vinyl sheet along. A vinyl sheet cut into a shape such as a rectangle surrounding the printed character or figure by the above device or a shape surrounding the character or figure is peeled from the long sheet 4 and formed on the back side of the vinyl sheet 5. It is used by adhering to advertisements etc. with adhesive material. In such an apparatus, printing and cutting are performed on a long sheet based on image data such as characters and figures created using a dedicated input device or personal computer. The sheet may become insufficient during cutting, and printing or cutting may be interrupted in the middle of the process, and the sheet may be wasted.
[0003]
Conventionally, a cutting device that cuts a long sheet based on image data such as characters and figures that have been input. 2. Description of the Related Art A cutting device for cutting a long sheet that is prevented from being lost is known. According to this cutting device, prior to the cutting operation, the length of data such as characters or figures input from a dedicated input device or a personal computer is calculated, and the length of the data obtained by this calculation is calculated. It is determined whether or not the sheet is sufficient by performing a feed operation of the long sheet, and if the remaining amount of the sheet is less than the length of the input data, the cutting operation is not performed (for example, patent document) 1).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-301690
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
According to the above prior art, when the length of the sheet remaining in the apparatus is insufficient with respect to the length of the input data, the cutting operation is not started and the sheet roll remaining in the apparatus is renewed. The sheet must be replaced with a new sheet roll and the cutting operation must be resumed, or data such as characters or figures corresponding to the length of the remaining sheet must be re-input by the input device or personal computer to perform the cutting process. The exchanged sheets were wasted, and it took time to recreate the data. The present invention eliminates the above-described problems in the prior art and performs printing or cutting when the length of print data or cut data composed of a plurality of blocks to be printed or cut exceeds the remaining length of the sheet. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing and cutting apparatus that prints or cuts a predetermined range of data that can be printed or cut on the remaining sheet length among the data to be printed.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, a printing and cutting apparatus according to the present invention includes a sheet driving unit that moves a long sheet along the longitudinal direction of the sheet, and a sheet moving direction that prints an image on the surface of the sheet. Control for controlling printing means formed along the orthogonal direction, cutting means for moving the sheet in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the sheet and cutting the sheet, and controlling the sheet driving means, the printing means, and the cutting means The sheet driving means and the printing means are driven by the control section to form an image on the sheet, and then the sheet driving means and the cutting means are driven by the control section to be formed on the sheet. A printing and cutting apparatus that performs a cutting operation for cutting a cut image, and is moved by a sheet driving means. A sheet sensor for detecting the end of the sheet is provided and the detection output of the sheet sensor is input to the control unit, and the amount of sheets sent by the control unit and the number of data that can be printed are stored. When the sheet sensor detects the edge of the sheet during the printing process, the control unit drives the sheet driving unit to pull back the sheet by the amount sent, and then drives the sheet driving unit and the cutting unit. Thus, a cutting operation corresponding to the number of data that can be printed out is performed.
[ 0007 ]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on examples shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a printing and cutting apparatus 1 according to the present invention. The printing and cutting apparatus 1 controls the printing and cutting apparatus 1 based on a predetermined program stored in the ROM 4 by a control unit 6 on which an arithmetic processing unit 5 including a CPU 2, a RAM 3, and a ROM 4 is mounted. Has been. The control unit 6 is provided with a data buffer 7 and an interface 8. An input device 9 constituted by a dedicated input device or a personal computer is connected to the CPU 2 through the interface 8, and printing and Print data and cut data such as characters and graphics to be cut are input to the arithmetic processing unit 5 via the data buffer.
[ 0008 ]
The data buffer 7 stores print data and cut data input from the input device via the interface 8 and sequentially supplies them to the arithmetic processing unit 5. The arithmetic processing unit 5 performs arithmetic processing on the print data and cut data stored in the data buffer 7 to calculate the sheet length necessary for printing or cutting. Further, the arithmetic processing unit 5 is connected to a sheet sensor 10 which is provided on the sheet conveyance path and detects a terminal end of the sheet and outputs a detection signal.
[ 0009 ]
The arithmetic processing unit 5 includes a print head 11 constituting a printing unit for forming an image such as a character or a graphic on the sheet, and a sheet driving unit for moving the sheet in the supply direction or the return direction. The pulse motor 12 and the pulse motor 14a for moving the cutting head for cutting the sheet constituting the cutting means 13 in the direction orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction and the cutting head with respect to the sheet surface The solenoids 14b that are operated in the vertical direction are connected to each other via a driving driver.
[ 0010 ]
The control unit 6 drives the print head 11 of the printing unit and the pulse motor 12 of the sheet driving unit to perform a printing operation for forming an image on the sheet based on the printing data input by the input device 9, Based on the cut data input by the input device 9 by driving the pulse motor 12 of the sheet driving means, the pulse motor 14a of the cutting means and the solenoid 14b, the sheet is cut along the outline of the image or in a rectangular shape surrounding the image. The cutting operation is performed. Further, the control unit 6 determines the sheet feed amount sent by the pulse motor 12 of the sheet driving means at the time of printing and cutting processing for a plurality of blocks, or at the time of printing / cutting processing for copying and cutting a plurality of copies of the same image. The number of blocks for which printing or cutting processing has been completed is sequentially stored.
[ 0011 ]
Further, in the case where the control unit 6 performs printing and cutting processing of the designated number of blocks or the number of copies, a sheet end detection signal from the sheet sensor 10 is input during the printing operation, whereby the pulse of the sheet driving means is output. The printing operation by the motor 12 and the print head 11 is interrupted, and after the roll-shaped sheet is returned to the initial position, the number of blocks or the number of copies for which image printing processing has been completed is designated as the number of copies or the number of copies. Control is performed to start the cutting operation by driving the pulse motor 12, the pulse motor 14a of the cutting means, and the solenoid 14b.
[ 0012 ]
Next, the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 show the operation when the printing and cutting apparatus 1 according to the present invention prints the same image and creates a predetermined number of sheets by cutting the outline of the image. 4 will be described. Print data and cut data of images such as characters and graphics created by the input device 9 are accumulated in the data buffer 7 and when the printing operation is started, the printing is performed with the pulse motor 12 of the sheet driving means in step 1 shown in FIG. The printing head 11 is driven to print an image on the sheet 15. When the first image G1 shown in FIG. 3 is printed on the sheet 15, the number of prints completed and the amount of movement of the sheet 15 up to this point are stored in step S2. If the sheet sensor 10 continues to detect the end of the sheet 15 in step S3 during the printing operation and the end of the sheet is not detected by the sheet sensor 15, it is determined in step S4 whether the number of prints has reached a predetermined number. If it is determined that the number of prints has not reached the predetermined number, the process returns to step S1 to start the printing process for the next graphic G2.
[ 0013 ]
As described above, the image printing operation is performed by repeating steps S1 to S4, and the image G1 to the image G3 are printed on the sheet 15. The sheet sensor 10 detects the end of the sheet 15 during the printing operation of the image G4. When the detection output is detected and input to the control unit 6, it is determined in step S3 that there is no remaining sheet 15, and the printing operation is interrupted while the printing of the image G4 is incomplete as shown in FIG. In step S5, the sheet movement amount at the time when the sheet 15 return amount is interrupted is used, and the process is resumed from step S6 in order to perform the cutting process of the sheet 15 with the designated number of cuts as the number of print processing completed.
[ 0014 ]
In step S6, the sheet 15 sent during the previous printing operation is returned by the movement amount of the sheet 15, and the starting position of the cutting operation is set to the position where printing on the sheet 15 is started. Thereafter, in step S7, the control unit 6 drives the pulse motor 12 serving as the sheet driving means, the pulse motor 14a serving as the cutting means, and the solenoid 14b to perform the cutting operation on the cut data C1 surrounding the image G1 as shown in FIG. When the cutting of the print data G1 shown in FIG. 4 is completed, it is determined in step S8 whether or not the cut completion number has reached the designated number, and if the cut completion number has not reached the designated number, the process returns to step G7 to return the image G2. Perform cutting operation. When the cut data C3 of the last image G3 that has been printed in this way is cut, printing and cutting are finished.
[ 0015 ]
FIG. 5 shows a case where an image composed of a plurality of blocks B1 to B4 is printed on the sheet 15 or cut along the contour of the image. In this process, the data buffer is inputted from the input device 9 by the arithmetic processing unit 5. 7 is calculated by calculating the length L1 when all the data is developed on the sheet based on the print data or the cut data accumulated in the sheet 7, and then the controller 6 drives the pulse motor 12 of the sheet driving means. The sheet 15 is fed and operated for the calculated length L1. If the end of the sheet is not detected by the sheet sensor 10 during the sheet feeding operation, the printing or cutting operation for the predetermined number of blocks is performed.
[ 0016 ]
When the sheet sensor 10 detects the end of the sheet 15 during the sheet feeding operation, printing or cutting is performed up to the number of blocks of the data length L2 smaller than the sheet feeding length L at this time, and predetermined data It is possible to obtain as many deliverables as possible in the range up to.
[ 0017 ]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the printing and cutting apparatus according to the present invention, when the conventional cutting apparatus tries to output cut data having a data length longer than the remaining sheet length, the cutting operation is performed. Stop and replace the sheet roll and restart the cutting operation with a new sheet roll, or create and input data corresponding to the remaining sheet again and perform the cutting process. When printing and cutting multiple blocks, the end of the sheet is detected during the printing operation, so that the cutting process is performed on the number of copies or blocks for which the printing process has been completed. As many sheets as possible can be obtained within the range of the sheet length.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a printing and cutting apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of processing when a plurality of copies of the same image are printed and cut by the printing and cutting apparatus. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which an image printing operation on a sheet is completed in the copying process of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the cutting operation of the image printed in FIG. 2 is completed. ] Explanatory drawing showing the state of printing or cutting processing of image data consisting of multiple blocks [Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing and cutting apparatus 5 Operation processing part 6 Control part 7 Data buffer 9 Input device 10 Sheet sensor 11 Print head (printing means)
12 Pulse motor (sheet drive means)
13 Cutting means 14a Pulse motor 14b Solenoid 15 Sheet G1-G4 Print data C1-C4 Cut data B1-B4 Data block

Claims (1)

Sheet driving means for moving a long sheet along the longitudinal direction of the sheet, printing means formed along a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the sheet so as to print an image on the surface of the sheet, and the sheet A cutting unit that moves in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the sheet and cuts the sheet, and a control unit that controls the sheet driving unit, the printing unit, and the cutting unit, and controls the sheet driving unit and the printing unit. Printing and cutting performed by the control unit to drive the sheet driving unit and the cutting unit and then cut the image formed on the sheet after performing the printing operation to form an image on the sheet by being driven by the unit A device,
A sheet sensor for detecting the end of the sheet moved by the sheet driving means is provided, and the detection output of the sheet sensor is input to the control unit, and the amount of sheets sent by the control unit and the data that can be printed out The number is stored, and when the sheet sensor detects the end of the sheet during the image printing process, the control unit drives the sheet driving unit to pull back the sheet by the amount sent, and then the sheet driving unit A printing and cutting apparatus characterized in that the cutting operation is performed by the number of data that can be printed out by driving the cutting means and the cutting means.

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