JP4754398B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer that pulls out and conveys a roll-shaped label sheet, prints it on an RFID label, and writes information on the RFID label.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an RFID label used for merchandise management using an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) technique. The RFID label can be printed with various information such as a barcode on the surface, and an antenna and an IC chip are embedded to allow various information to be written or read out.

  In addition, a roll-shaped label sheet with such an RFID label affixed to a long mount is pulled out, conveyed, printed on the RFID label, and incorporated with an RFID reader / writer to perform wireless communication with the RFID label. Some printers are designed to write information.

  However, in the printer as described above, the RFID reader / writer may erroneously write on the RFID label on the outer periphery of the roll-shaped label sheet, not on the RFID label being conveyed.

  Therefore, in order to prevent such erroneous writing, for example, the printer disclosed in Patent Document 1 is provided with a shield plate inside the printer to form an area in which radio waves from the RFID reader / writer are not received. A roll-shaped label sheet is stored and held inside.

JP 2005-335737 A

  However, even when the shield plate is used, there is a possibility that the RFID reader / writer may erroneously write from a slight gap. In particular, in an RFID in which a frequency in the UHF band, which is expected to spread in the future, is used for wireless communication, the radio wave easily reflects on the inside of the printer and reaches the roll-shaped label sheet.

  An object of the present invention is to prevent erroneous writing on an RFID label on the outer periphery of a roll-shaped label sheet.

  The printer according to the present invention includes a holding unit that holds a roll-shaped label sheet in which an RFID label provided with an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip is pasted on a mount, and pulls out the held label sheet A print transport unit that transports the RFID label on the predetermined paper path, prints information on the RFID label disposed in the paper path, and the held label A long flexible member including a conductive metal that is curved and contacts the outer peripheral surface of the label paper at a position overlapping the antenna provided on the RFID label on the outer periphery of the paper.

  According to the present invention, since the metal contained in the flexible member approaches the antenna on the outer periphery of the roll-shaped label paper, the characteristics of the antenna change. Therefore, the RFID label on the outer periphery of the label paper is separated from the RFID reader / writer. Wireless communication becomes impossible, and erroneous writing to the RFID label is prevented.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a vertical side view showing the printer 1. The printer 1 has a printer main body 101, and one end of a label paper holding shaft 102 and one end of an ink ribbon holding shaft 103 as a holding portion are fixed to the printer main body 101. The label paper holding shaft 102 rotatably holds the label paper 201 wound in a roll shape, and the ink ribbon holding shaft 103 holds the ink ribbon 105 wound in a roll shape.

  The label sheet 201 is obtained by attaching an RFID label 203 to a long mount 202 at regular intervals. An IC chip 206 (see FIG. 4) and an antenna 205 connected to the IC chip 206 are attached to each RFID label 203. (See FIG. 4).

  Here, the printer 1 has a long flexible member 301 containing a conductive metal, and the flexible member 301 is curvedly in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roll-shaped label sheet 201. . Such a flexible member 301 is, for example, a cloth in which copper fibers are knitted as a whole. One end of a fixed shaft 302 is fixed to the printer main body 101 so as to be positioned below the front surface of the label sheet holding shaft 102, and the flexible member 301 has its one end wound around the fixed shaft 302 to fix the position. Thus, the other end is a free end.

  Further, the printer 1 includes a print transport unit 141 that pulls out and transports the roll-shaped label paper 201 held on the label paper holding shaft 102 to print on the RFID label 203. The print transport unit 141 includes a transport roller 106, a pinch roller 110, a platen 107, a thermal head 115, and the like. That is, the printer main body 101 is rotatably connected to one end of a conveying roller 106, a platen 107, a rewinder 108, and a ribbon take-up shaft 109 that are connected to a motor (not shown) and driven to rotate. The pinch roller 110 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roller at a predetermined pressure. Further, in the printer main body 101, a head block 111 composed of a casing 112 having a lower end on the platen 107 side and a thermal head 115 that abuts the outer peripheral surface of the platen 107 at a position close to the platen 107. It is fixed.

  The label paper 201 held on the label paper holding shaft 102 is pulled out from the roll state, then passed between the transport roller 106 and the pinch roller 110, and further passed between the platen 107 and the thermal head 115. . That is, the printer 1 is provided with a paper path 151 through which the label paper 201 is conveyed in such a path. Of the label paper 201 that has passed between the platen 107 and the thermal head 115, the mount 202 is bent by the label peeling body 116 and wound around the rewinder 108, and the RFID label 203 is peeled off from the mount 202 and travels straight. To do. On the other hand, the ink ribbon 105 held in a roll state on the ink ribbon holding shaft 103 is drawn from the roll state, passed between the platen 107 and the thermal head 115, and taken up on the ribbon take-up shaft 109.

  When the transport roller 106 and the platen 107 are driven to rotate, the label paper 201 is pulled out at a predetermined speed and transported on the paper path 151. In this conveyance process, predetermined information is printed on the RFID label 203 by the thermal head 115. At this time, the ribbon take-up shaft 109 is driven to rotate so that the ink ribbon 105 is conveyed at the same speed as the label paper 201. A feed sensor 117 is provided between the transport roller 106 and the platen 107 to detect the transport amount of the label paper 201. Based on the detection result of the feed sensor 117, the transport of the label paper 201 and the ink ribbon 105 is performed. By controlling the amount, printing is performed at the correct position on the RFID label 203.

  The printer 1 is further provided with an RFID reader / writer 121. The RFID reader / writer 121 is fixed to the printer main body 101 so as to be positioned between the transport roller 106 and the rewinder 108 and on the lower surface side that is one surface side of the paper path 151. The RFID reader / writer 121 writes predetermined information by executing wireless communication with the RFID label 203 positioned on the upper surface of the RFID reader / writer 121 during the conveyance of the label paper 201.

  2 is a longitudinal side view showing the RFID reader / writer 121. FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of the internal structure of the RFID reader / writer 121. As shown in FIG. The RFID reader / writer 121 includes a reader / writer antenna 131 for reading / writing information from / to the IC chip 206. The reader / writer antenna 131 is fixed to the antenna fixing plate 132 with both ends thereof being sandwiched. The antenna moving screw 133 is threaded. The tip of the RFID reader / writer 121 is inserted from the lower side of the frame 135 and is prevented from being removed by the moving screw retaining member 133a. It is received by the provided antenna panel boss 134a. Although only one antenna moving screw 133 is shown in the drawing, a pair of antenna moving screws 133 is actually provided. In such RFID reader / writer 121, by rotating the antenna moving screw 133, the position of the antenna fixing plate 132 is changed vertically by the screw action, and the position of the reader / writer antenna 131 is changed.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the flexible member 301 that is curved and contacts the outer peripheral surface of the label paper 201. The RFID reader / writer 121 is also shown in FIG.

  As described above, the RFID label 203 is attached to the label sheet 201 on the mount 202 at regular intervals, and each RFID label 203 has an IC chip 206 and an antenna 205 connected to the IC chip 206. Buried. The RFID label 203 is a passive type that does not incorporate a battery by itself. Therefore, in this embodiment, the RFID label 203 is supplied with power by an electromagnetic induction method using a 13.56 MHz frequency band as an example. That is, in the RFID label 203, the embedded antenna 205 receives the magnetic field from the reader / writer antenna 131, generates electric power, and the IC chip 206 is activated. In the case of a radio wave system using the UHF band or the like, the IC chip 206 is activated by receiving radio waves and generating power. The RFID label 203 activated by the IC chip 206 can wirelessly communicate with the RFID reader / writer 121.

  Since the flexible member 301 has flexibility, the flexible member 301 is curved along the outer peripheral surface of the label paper 201 by its own weight only by being applied to the rolled label paper 201 from above, and as shown in FIG. It will be in the state which contacted the outer peripheral surface.

  What is important about the flexible member 301 is that the flexible member 301 contacts the outer peripheral surface of the label sheet 201 at a position where the flexible member 301 overlaps the antenna 205 provided on the RFID label 203 on the outer periphery of the roll-shaped label sheet 201. It is that. As a result, the antenna 205 embedded in the RFID label 203 on the outer periphery of the label sheet 201 and the metal contained in the flexible member 301 are brought into close proximity. Then, the antenna characteristics of the antenna 205 whose antenna characteristics are designed so as to enable wireless communication with the RFID reader / writer 121 change when the metal is in close proximity. That is, the RFID label 203 cannot wirelessly communicate with the RFID reader / writer 121. Therefore, even if a magnetic field or the like from the RFID reader / writer 121 reaches the RFID label 203 on the outer periphery of the roll-shaped label sheet 201, erroneous writing to the RFID label 203 is prevented.

  The flexible member 301 does not have to be wider than the paper width of the label paper 201 as shown in FIG. 4, and may be narrower than the paper width of the label paper 201 as long as the flexible member 301 can contact at a position overlapping the antenna 205. .

  Further, as described in FIG. 1, the flexible member 301 has one end wound around the fixed shaft 302 and the other end as a free end. That is, in the flexible member 301, the upstream end in the direction of rotation when the label sheet 201 is pulled out is fixed, and the downstream end is a free end. As a result, the flexible member 301 is not dragged and does not move or drop when the label sheet 201 rotates, and even when the label sheet 201 is consumed and the roll diameter is reduced. The state in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the label paper 201 is always maintained.

  The flexible member 301 may have a weight (not shown) having a predetermined weight at the free end. Thereby, the flexible member 301 can make a contact state with the outer peripheral surface of the label paper 201 more favorable without a free end floating.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another example of the flexible member 301 that curves and contacts the outer peripheral surface of the label sheet 201. Note that the same portions as those described in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is also omitted. The flexible member 301 illustrated in FIG. 5 is a metal wire. That is, the flexible member 301 does not have to be in the form of a sheet covering the entire outer periphery of the label sheet 201 as shown in FIG. 4, and changes the antenna characteristics of the antenna 205 in the vicinity of the antenna 205 on the outer periphery of the label sheet 201. If possible, a form such as a metal wire illustrated in FIG. 5 that does not cover the entire outer peripheral surface of the label sheet 201 may be used.

  A metal wire which is a flexible member 301 having one end wound around and fixed to a fixed shaft 302 has a weight (not shown) having a predetermined weight at the free end. The metal wire as the flexible member 301 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roll-shaped label sheet 201 at a position overlapping with the antenna 205, so that the characteristics of the antenna 205 change, and the RFID label 203 on the outer periphery is changed to the RFID label 203. Wireless communication with the reader / writer 121 becomes impossible, and erroneous writing to the RFID label 203 is prevented.

  Note that FIG. 5 shows an example in which there are three metal wires as the flexible member 301, but the number is not limited to three as long as erroneous writing to the RFID label 203 can be prevented.

It is a vertical side view which shows a printer. It is a vertical side view which shows an RFID reader / writer. It is a perspective view which expands and shows a part of internal structure of RFID reader / writer. It is a perspective view which shows the flexible member which curves and contacts with respect to the outer peripheral surface of a label paper. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the flexible member which curves and contacts with respect to the outer peripheral surface of a label paper.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 102 ... Label paper holding shaft (holding part), 121 ... RFID reader / writer, 141 ... Print conveyance part, 151 ... Paper path, 201 ... Label paper, 202 ... Mount, 203 ... RFID label, 205 ... Antenna, 206 ... IC chip, 301 ... Flexible member

Claims (5)

A holding unit for holding a roll-shaped label sheet in which an RFID label provided with an IC chip and an antenna connected to the IC chip is attached to a mount;
A print transport unit that pulls out the held label paper and transports it on a predetermined paper path to print on the RFID label;
An RFID reader / writer arranged in the paper path for writing information to the RFID label;
A long flexible member including a conductive metal that is curved and contacts the outer peripheral surface of the label sheet at a position overlapping the antenna provided on the RFID label on the outer periphery of the held label sheet. When,
Printer with.   2. The flexible member is fixed at an upstream end in a direction of rotation when the held label paper is pulled out by the print transport unit, and has a downstream end as a free end. The printer described.   The printer according to claim 2, wherein the flexible member has a weight at the free end.   The printer according to claim 1, wherein the flexible member is a cloth woven with metal fibers. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the flexible member is a metal wire.

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