JP4545261B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus that performs printing on a printing paper containing an IC chip.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, IC-embedded printing paper containing an IC chip and an antenna has been developed. This printing paper is excellent in terms of information management because it can transmit and receive information in a non-contact manner via an antenna and can store a large amount of information.
[0003]
By the way, the IC-embedded printing paper has a convex portion at the position of the IC chip due to the thickness of the IC chip. When thermal recording is performed on the printing paper with the convex portions formed in this way, that is, printing is performed while the thermal head is in contact with the printing paper, the thermal head may collide with the thermal head and damage the thermal head.
[0004]
Therefore, the conventional printing apparatus reduces the head pressure (that is, the pressure that presses the thermal head against the printing paper) or reduces the hardness of the platen roller that supports the back surface of the printing paper to be printed. The impact received was reduced, preventing damage to the thermal head.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the conventional printing apparatus has a drawback in that the print quality is deteriorated because the head pressure is lowered or the hardness of the platen roller is lowered. Further, even if the head pressure is lowered or the hardness of the platen roller is lowered, the impact received by the thermal head cannot be completely absorbed, and the thermal head cannot be completely prevented from being damaged.
[0006]
Therefore, a method is considered in which the platen roller is cut out over the entire circumference at a predetermined position, and the impact received by the thermal head is reduced by passing the IC chip through the cutout position. However, this method has a drawback in that it cannot cope with a change in the position of the IC chip because the platen roller is notched.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of printing on printing paper having convex portions without damaging printing means such as a thermal head.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an IC chip embedded in a printing paper, and a printing means having a thermal head is brought into contact with the printing paper having a convex portion corresponding to the IC chip on the printing surface. In a printing apparatus that performs printing on a sheet, a retraction unit that retreats the printing unit to a retreat position that is not in contact with the print sheet, and a return unit that returns the printing unit retreated to the retraction position to an original position; Detecting means for reading the detection mark printed on the printing paper, and detecting that the convex portion has been transferred to the position of the printing means by the detection means reading the detection mark printed on the printing paper ; Patent that this the controls retreating means in response to the detection signal, the convex portion and a control means for retracting to the retracted position said printing means when passing through the position of the printing means To.
[0009]
According to the present invention, when the convex portion of the printing paper passes through the position of the printing means, the printing means is retracted to a position that is not in contact with the printing paper, so that the convex portion does not collide with the printing means, Therefore, the printing unit is not damaged. Further, according to the present invention, printing is performed without lowering the head pressure or the hardness of the platen roller, so that the printing accuracy is not lowered. Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a collision with the convex portion regardless of the arrangement of the convex portion, and therefore it is possible to cope with a change in the arrangement of the convex portion.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A preferred embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0011]
FIG. 1 is an overall structural diagram of a printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.
[0012]
As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 10 includes a pair of opposing sandwiching rollers 14, 14. The printing paper 12 is sandwiched and conveyed by rotationally driving the sandwiching rollers 14, 14. The printing paper 12 is wound around the supply reel 16 and is fed out from the supply reel 16. The fed printing paper 12 is conveyed to the printing unit 20 while being engaged with the guide roller 18.
[0013]
In the printing unit 20, the platen roller 22 and the thermal head 24 are arranged to face each other, and the printing paper 12 is conveyed between the platen roller 22 and the thermal head 24. An ink ribbon 28 wound around an ink ribbon supply reel 26 is supplied between the platen roller 22 and the thermal head 24. Although not shown, the structure of the thermal head 24 is configured by providing a grace layer (glass layer) on a ceramic substrate, forming a circuit pattern of electrodes and heating elements on the surface of the grace layer, and covering the top with a protective film. . Then, while the thermal head 24 is in contact with the printing paper 12, the heating element is heated and cooled (heat generation stopped), whereby the ink ribbon 28 is melted and transferred to the printing paper 12. The ink ribbon 28 supplied to the printing unit 20 is taken up by the take-up reel 30.
[0014]
The thermal head 24 is attached to a distal end portion of a support member 32 whose base end portion is swingably supported by a pin 34.
[0015]
Above the support member 32, a cam 36 is swingably provided with respect to the pin 37, and the cam 36 swings by driving the swinging device 39. The cam 36 is formed in such a shape that its lower end position rises when it is swung clockwise, and its lower end position is lowered when it is swung counterclockwise.
[0016]
The support member 32 is biased upward by a spring 38 and always abuts against the lower end of the cam 36. Therefore, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 2, when the cam 36 is swung clockwise, the tip end of the support member 32 is lifted by the spring 38, and the thermal head 24 is not in contact with the printing paper 12 (hereinafter referred to as the contact point). , Referred to as a retracted position). Conversely, when the cam 36 is swung counterclockwise, the cam 36 presses the support member 32 downward and the thermal head 24 comes into contact with the printing paper 12 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
[0017]
Next, an example of the printing paper 12 that is printed by the printing apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following, the label paper 13 will be described as an example of the printing paper 12. However, the printing paper 12 is not limited to this, and may be a belt-like non-adhesive recording paper.
[0018]
As shown in FIG. 3, the label paper 13 has a label 46 temporarily attached to the surface of a strip-shaped release paper 44 via an adhesive layer 45 at a predetermined interval.
[0019]
The label 46 is configured by bonding an upper label 47 and a lower label 48 via an IC chip 49 and an antenna 50. The IC chip 49 may be formed as a simple memory or may be a circuit having an MPU. Various types are selected depending on the application. The IC chip 49 transmits and receives data via the antenna 50.
[0020]
The label 46 has a convex portion 52 formed at the position of the IC chip 49 depending on the thickness of the IC chip 49. Although FIG. 3 also shows the thickness of the antenna 50, the antenna 50 is formed very thin and does not affect printing.
[0021]
On the other hand, on the back surface of the release paper 44, as shown in FIG. 4, a detection mark 54 for detecting the tip position of the label 46 (hereinafter referred to as a tip detection mark) and the position of the convex portion 52 of the label 46 are detected. Detection marks (hereinafter referred to as convex detection marks) 56 for printing are printed. The leading edge detection mark 54 is printed on the side edge at a position corresponding to the leading edge of the label 46. The convex portion detection mark 56 is printed at a position corresponding to the IC chip 49, that is, a position corresponding to the convex portion 52 and on the side edge opposite to the tip detection mark 54. The tip detection mark 54 and the projection detection mark 56 are respectively an optical detector for detecting the tip position (hereinafter referred to as a tip detector) 40 and an optical detector (projection) for detecting the position of the projection 52 shown in FIG. (Referred to as a detector) 42.
[0022]
Each of the leading edge detectors 40 includes a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit (not shown), projects light from the light projecting unit to the back surface of the release paper 44, and receives reflected light reflected by the tip detection mark 54. The leading end position of the label 46 is detected by receiving light at the portion. Similarly, the convex detector 42 includes a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit (not shown), and projects light from the light projecting unit to the back surface of the release paper 44 and is reflected by the convex detection mark 56. The convex part 52 of the label 46 is detected by receiving the light at the light receiving part.
[0023]
As shown in FIG. 1, the tip detector 40 and the convex detector 42 are connected to a control device 43, and output detection signals to the control device 43. The control device 43 rotates the cam 36 via the swing device 39 based on the timing at which the detection signal is received. For example, when a stepping motor is used as the swinging device 39, the rotation amount of the cam 36, that is, the head pressure of the thermal head 24 can be accurately controlled.
[0024]
Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described based on the schematic diagram shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, the label paper 13 is conveyed from right to left, and the convex detector 42 is disposed on the back side of the tip detector 40. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the tip detector 40 and the convex detector 42 are arranged upstream of the print position of the thermal head 24 by the label pitch.
[0025]
First, as shown in FIG. 5A, the label 46A of the label sheet 13 is conveyed to the printing unit 20 with the thermal head 24 retracted to the retracted position.
[0026]
As shown in FIG. 5B, when the leading end of the label 46A of the label paper 13 reaches the printing position of the thermal head 24, the leading end detection mark 54 of the label 46B on the upstream side of the label 46A is moved to the leading end detector 40. Will detect. Then, by rotating the cam 36 of FIG. 1, the thermal head 24 is moved downward via the support member 32 and brought into contact with the label 46A. Thus, the label 46A can be printed by the thermal head 24.
[0027]
When the printing of the label 46A is completed and the convex portion 52 of the label 46A reaches the printing position of the thermal head 24 as shown in FIG. 5C, the convex portion detector 42 detects the convex portion detection mark 56 of the label 46B. To detect. Then, the thermal head 24 is moved to the upper retracted position by swinging the cam 36 of FIG. 1 clockwise. This prevents the thermal head 24 from colliding with the convex portion 52 of the label 46A.
[0028]
Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the label paper 13 is conveyed, and the above operation is repeated for the label 46B and further the label 46C, and printing is continuously performed on the label 46.
[0029]
As described above, the printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment retracts the thermal head 24 to the retracted position when the convex portion 52 of the label 46 reaches the position of the thermal head 24, so that the thermal head 24 collides with the convex portion 52. And can be prevented from being damaged.
[0030]
Further, according to the printing apparatus 10, when the leading end of the label 46 reaches the position of the thermal head 24, the retracted thermal head 24 can be brought into contact with the label 46 again. At this time, the thermal head 24 can be brought into contact with the label 46 with a predetermined head pressure by controlling the amount of rotation of the cam 36. Therefore, the label 46 can be printed with high accuracy.
[0031]
Furthermore, the printing apparatus 10 can suppress wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon by retracting the thermal head 24 to the retracted position during printing.
[0032]
The above-described embodiment is an example of a thermal transfer printer, but may be a direct color printer.
[0033]
Further, although the above-described embodiment has been described as the IC chip 49, an IC module having a plurality of IC chips 49 may be used.
[0034]
Further, the use of the printing apparatus 10 of the present invention is not limited to the printing of the IC inclusion label 46, and may be used for printing of printing paper having a convex portion such as Braille.
[0035]
In the above-described embodiment, two optical detectors for detecting the tip and detecting the convex portion are provided. However, the tip position and the convex portion position of the label may be detected by one optical detector. . In this case, the tip detection mark 54 and the convex detection mark 56 are printed on the same side edge, and both the detection marks 54 and 56 are detected by one optical detector.
[0036]
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the thermal head 24 is retracted at the timing when the convex portion detection mark 56 is detected has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, depending on the arrangement of the convex detector 42 and the length of the label pitch, the timing at which the convex detection mark 56 is detected may deviate from the timing at which the convex 52 reaches the position of the thermal head 24. In this case, a timing difference is input to the control device 43 in advance, and the timing of the both can be synchronized by rotating the cam 36 while shifting by this timing difference. Similarly, a timing difference between the timing at which the tip detection mark 54 is detected and the timing at which the convex portion 52 reaches the position of the thermal head 24 is input in advance to the control device 43, so It is also possible to measure the timing of evacuating 24. In this case, the convex detector 42 and the convex detection mark 56 become unnecessary.
[0037]
In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, when the IC chip 49 is arranged at the center of the label 46 and printing is performed on both sides of the convex portion 52 formed by the IC chip 49, the printing on the back surface of the release paper 44 is performed. A print resumption detection mark 58 is printed at a position corresponding to the resumption position. When the print resumption detection mark 58 is detected by a new optical detector, the thermal head 24 is moved downward to start printing. Thus, printing can be performed without being affected by the arrangement of the convex portions 52.
[0038]
Further, the retracting means and the returning means of the thermal head 24 are not limited to the spring 38, the cam 36, and the like, and a hydraulic actuator or the like may be used.
[0039]
Further, the means for detecting the convex portion 52 of the label 46 is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, a pair of rollers that sandwich and convey the label 46 is provided on the upstream side of the printing unit 20, and the rollers The convex portion 52 of the label 46 may be detected by measuring the load applied to the label 46. Further, a proximity sensor may be used as the detection means, and the distance to the surface of the label 46 may be measured by the proximity sensor, and the thermal head 24 may be retracted according to the timing when the distance becomes smaller than the threshold value.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, when the convex portion of the printing paper is transferred to the position of the printing means, the printing means is retracted, so that the convex portion collides with the printing means. Thus, the printing means can be prevented from being damaged.
[Brief description of the drawings]
1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 shows a label sheet which is an example of a printing sheet. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the back side of the label sheet shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. Longitudinal sectional view 【Explanation of symbols】
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing apparatus, 12 ... Printing paper, 13 ... Label paper (an example of printing paper), 20 ... Printing section, 22 ... Platen roller, 24 ... Thermal head, 32 ... Support member, 36 ... Cam, 38 ... Spring , 40... Optical detector for detecting the tip position, 42... Optical detector for detecting the position of the convex part, 43... Control device, 44 ... Release paper, 46 ... Label, 49 ... IC chip, 52. Tip detection mark, 56 ... convexity detection mark

Claims (1)

In a printing apparatus in which an IC chip is included in a printing paper, and printing is performed on the printing paper by bringing a printing unit having a thermal head into contact with a printing paper having a convex portion corresponding to the IC chip on a printing surface.
A retracting means for retracting the printing means to a retracted position that is not in contact with the printing paper;
Returning means for returning the printing means retracted to the retracted position to the original position;
Detection means for reading a detection mark printed on the printing paper;
By detecting the detection mark printed on the printing paper by the detection means to detect that the convex portion has been transferred to the position of the printing means,
A printing apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the retracting means in response to the detection signal, and retracting the printing means to the retracted position when the convex portion passes the position of the printing means.

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