JP4213607B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a bankbook printing apparatus used as, for example, a financial institution or an IC card.

  This type of printing apparatus includes a take-out unit that takes out a plurality of set passbooks one by one, a page turning unit that reads the pages of the taken out passbooks, a reading unit that reads information on the passed passbooks, A character printing unit that prints character information on an image, an image printing unit that prints image information with color ink, a laminating unit that protects printed pages, an inspection unit that inspects printed results, and a stacking unit that accumulates completed passbook Etc. are provided.

  By the way, when the components of the printing apparatus described above are arranged linearly, it is not necessary to change the conveyance direction of the passbooks, but a large installation area is required, and an occupied area is increased.

  Therefore, when there is a restriction on the installation area of the device, it is considered that a plurality of components of the printing apparatus are unitized and these units are stacked in a plurality of stages.

  In the printing apparatus configured as described above, when the passbooks are moved between the units, there is a printer that feeds the passbooks while curving the curving pass switching unit (for example, see Patent Document 1). ).

In addition, there is a type in which a conveyance path switching unit is rotatably provided, and the conveyance path switching unit is rotated to switch the conveyance direction of the passbooks and move between the units.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-109449

  However, recently, wireless ICs are sometimes embedded in passbooks, and a protection member is added to the page in which the wireless ICs are embedded, and the rigidity of the passbooks as a whole is extremely high. For this reason, if a bankbook is conveyed between each unit while curving, there is a risk that the wireless IC is strongly stressed and damaged.

  In addition, there is no risk of damaging the wireless IC for rotating the conveyance path switching unit to switch the conveyance direction, but a conveyance path length corresponding to the length of the opened passbooks is required. There is a problem that the occupied area becomes large.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to the above circumstances, and even when the wireless IC is embedded in the passbooks, the wireless IC is not damaged and the area occupied by the switching means is increased. It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus capable of switching the conveyance direction of bankbooks.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 is for carrying a passbook having a wireless IC on one opened page along the conveyance path in a state where the page is opened and separated from each other. First and second transporting means disposed, and first and second printing means for printing first and second information on passbooks transported by the first and second transporting means, respectively. Switching means for switching the transport direction of the passbooks printed with the first information by the first printing means to the direction of the second transport means, and the switching means introduces the passbooks. A straight guide portion that guides and a curved guide portion that is connected to the straight guide portion at a predetermined angle, and one page having the wireless IC of the passbook is configured by the straight guide portion. Guide and guide the curve Parts by characterized by guiding the other pages that do not have the wireless IC.

  According to the present invention, even when the wireless IC is embedded in the passbooks, the transport direction can be switched without damaging the wireless IC, and the area occupied by the switching means can be reduced. Can do.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing a passbook printing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a take-out section for taking out a plurality of set passbooks T one by one. The passbook T taken out from the take-out section 2 is moved to the transport path 5 by the upper transport means 4 as the first transport means. It is conveyed horizontally along. In the conveyance path 5, a page turning unit 7, a reading unit 8, and a character printing unit 9 as a first printing unit are arranged across the conveyance direction of the passbook T. The page turning unit 7 turns a page to be printed by the passbook T, and the reading unit 8 reads information from the passbook T. The character printing unit 9 prints character information on the passbook T.

  In the lower part of the first conveyance path 5, a middle conveyance means 14 as a second conveyance means is provided via a first route switching unit (switching unit) 11 and a second route switching unit 12. Yes. The passbooks T are transported obliquely downward along the transport path 15 by the middle transport means 14. A print transfer device 17 as a second printing unit is provided in the conveyance path 15, and the print transfer device 17 prints image information on the intermediate transfer film 18 with color ink or the like, and this image The image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit 20 that transfers an image on the intermediate transfer film 18 printed by the printing unit 19 to a predetermined page of the book T.

  A lower transport unit 22 is provided below the middle transport unit 14 via a third transport path switching unit 21. The passbooks T are transported horizontally along the transport path 24 by the lower transport means 22. An inspection unit 25 for inspecting the printing result is provided in the conveyance path 24. On the carry-out side of the conveyance path 24, a stacking unit 27 for collecting the passbooks T for which printing has been completed is provided.

  FIG. 2 shows the bankbook T opened.

  A wireless IC 29 is embedded in the middle paper Ta of the passbook T in order to improve security. A protective member is added to the intermediate paper Ta in which the wireless IC 29 is embedded to protect the wireless IC 29 from destruction. For this reason, the intermediate paper Ta in which the wireless IC 29 is embedded is a rigid page that has high rigidity and is difficult to be curved and conveyed. On the cover Tb of the bankbook T, the wireless IC 29 is not embedded and is a soft page, which can be bent and conveyed.

  FIG. 3 shows the first route switching unit 11 described above.

  The first path switching unit 11 includes a straight guide part 31, a curved guide part 32 integrally connected to the straight guide part 31 at a predetermined angle, and a conveyance provided in the straight guide part 31. It has a roller pair 33a and 33b.

  The straight guide part 31 has a pair of flat plate plates 34a and 34b arranged to face each other with a predetermined interval. The curved guide portion 32 includes a curved plate 36a and a flat plate plate 36b that faces the curved plate 36a.

  The curved plate 36 a of the second guide portion 32 is integrally connected to the flat plate plate 34 a of the straight guide portion 31. The flat plate plate 36b of the curved guide portion 32 is integrally connected to the flat plate plate 34b of the straight guide portion 31 at a predetermined angle.

  The first path switching unit 11 configured in this way is integrated with the transport roller group 38 that constitutes a part of the upper transport means 4, and in the first direction together with the transport roller group 38 by a rotation mechanism (not shown). a and a second direction b opposite to the first direction a. When the first path switching unit 11 is rotated in the first direction a, the straight guide unit 31 is positioned at the position where the transport roller group 38 was located, and the passbook T is moved to the soft cover Tb. It is introduced from the side to guide the conveyance.

  Next, the printing operation of the printing apparatus 1 configured as described above will be described.

  First, the passbooks T are taken out from the take-out unit 2 one by one and conveyed by the conveyance roller group 38 of the upper conveyance means 4. The passbook T is turned over by the turning unit 7 and then sent to the reading unit 8 to read the page information, and the turning operation is repeated until a predetermined page is reached. When a predetermined page is turned, the passbook T is sent to the character printing unit 9 to print character information.

  After the character information is printed in this way, the passbook T is sent in the reverse direction, and the first route switching unit 11 is changed from the state shown in FIG. 4A to the state shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4 (c), the straight guide portion 31 is rotated in the direction a of 1 and moved to the position where the transport roller group 38 of the upper transport means 4 was located.

  As a result, the reverse passbook T is introduced into the straight guide portion 31 and sent from the soft cover Tb side. The bankbook T to be fed is conveyed by the rotation of the conveyance roller pairs 33a and 33b, and the cover Tb passes through the straight guide portion 31 and is positioned in the curved guide portion 32 as shown in FIG. 5A. When the hard intermediate paper Ta side having the wireless IC 29 is positioned in the straight guide portion 31, the operation is stopped. At this time, the bankbook T is in a state of being bent about 90 degrees with the stitch portion Tc as a boundary.

  Thereafter, the first path switching unit 11 is rotated downward as indicated by an arrow b to return the straight guide unit 31 to the initial position as shown in FIG. 5B, and the transport roller group 38 is also initialized. Returned to position, ready for the next passbook. After the straight guide portion 31 is returned to the initial position, the conveyance roller pairs 33a and 33b are rotated in the direction of the arrow to feed the passbooks T downward. The passbooks T sent out downward are sent to the second path switching unit 12, and then the second path switching unit 12 is rotated in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. To the transfer path 15 to be transferred to the transfer position.

  On the other hand, at this time, the color head of the ink ribbon 41 is transferred to the intermediate transfer film 18 by the thermal head 40 of the image printing unit 19 to print the image information, and this image information is sent to the transfer position by the conveyance of the intermediate transfer film 18. And faced to the bankbook T. From this state, the transfer roller 43 is rotated and the image information of the intermediate transfer film 18 is transferred to the passbooks T.

  After the image information is transferred in this way, the passbook T is transported to the third path switching unit 21, and the third path switching unit 21 rotates in the direction of the arrow, whereby the transport path 24 of the lower transport unit 22 is transferred. Sent out. The passbooks T are transported to the inspection unit 25 by the lower transport means 22 and the print result is inspected, and then collected in the stacking unit 27.

  As described above, according to this embodiment, the hard intermediate paper Ta side in which the wireless IC 29 is embedded is guided by the straight guide portion 31, and thus is conveyed straight without being curved. Accordingly, no stress is applied to the wireless IC 29, and the damage can be prevented.

  Further, the soft cover Tb side where the wireless IC 29 is not embedded is bent along the curved guide portion 32 and is bent about 90 degrees with respect to the binding portion Tc, so that the first along the conveyance direction of the passbook T The length of the path switching unit 11 can be shortened, and the occupied area can be reduced.

  Further, the cover Tb side of the passbook T is conveyed while being curved along the curved plate 36a of the curved guide portion 32, but based on being bent along the binding portion Tc, the curved plate 36a and the flat plate Since it returns to a flat shape due to elastic force in the space between it and 36b, it can be prevented from being deformed into a curl shape.

  Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the gist thereof.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically showing a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view shown in the state which opened the passbooks printed with the printing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating a conveyance path switching unit of the printing apparatus. The figure which shows the switching operation | movement of the conveyance path | route switching part. The figure which shows the switching operation | movement of the conveyance path | route switching part.

Explanation of symbols

  Ta ... middle paper (one page), Tb ... cover (the other page), Tc ... binding part, T ... passbooks, 5, 15 ... conveying path, 4, 14 ... upper and middle conveying means (first And second transfer means), 9, 17... Character printing section and print transfer device (first and second printing means), 11... First path switching section (switching means), 29. Straight guide part, 32 ... curved guide part, 34a, 34b ... flat plate plate, 36a ... curved plate, 36b ... flat plate plate.

Claims (4)

A first and second transporting means for transporting a passbook having a wireless IC on one of the opened pages along the transport path in a state of being opened; and
First and second printing means for printing the first and second information on the passbooks conveyed by the first and second conveying means, respectively;
Switching means for switching the transport direction of the passbooks printed with the first information by the first printing means to the direction of the second transport means;
The switching means is configured to have a straight guide portion that guides the passbooks and guides, and a curved guide portion that is connected to the straight guide portion with a predetermined angle.
A printing apparatus, wherein one page having the wireless IC of the passbook is guided by the straight guide portion, and the other page not having the wireless IC is guided by the curved guide portion. The straight guide portion has a pair of flat plates facing each other with a predetermined interval,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the curved guide portion includes a curved plate and a flat plate that is spaced from and faces the curved plate. The other page of the passbooks, the conveyance of which is guided by the curved guide portion, is conveyed while being bent along the curved plate, and then returned to a flat shape by being bent along the binding portion. The printing apparatus according to claim 2. The switching means is provided so as to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions. By rotating in the forward direction, the straight guide portion is positioned on the transport path of the first transport means to introduce bankbooks. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

Images