JP5095651B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing on thermal paper and printing on a passbook.

  A printing apparatus having both a printing function for thermal paper and a printing function for a passbook has been developed and put into practical use.

  Such a printing apparatus is equipped with a plurality of printing units, and these printing units operate in response to instructions from the host device.

  As a system for operating two printer units in response to an instruction from a host device at a higher level, for example, a system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-73290 is known.

  As described above, in a printer having a plurality of print units, if each printer is controlled by a single controller, it is necessary to install a plurality of control functions in the controller, and the performance required for the controller is increased. As a result, the cost increases.

  When each printer is controlled by each controller, it is necessary to monitor the status of each printer on the host device side in order to synchronize the operation of each printer. As a result, the burden on the host device becomes heavy.

  The present invention takes the above-described circumstances into consideration, and can easily and accurately control a plurality of printers with each controller without requiring monitoring of the host device and thus without placing a burden on the host device. An object is to provide a printing apparatus.

A printing apparatus according to a first aspect of the invention operates in response to an instruction from the host apparatus, and operates in accordance with an instruction from the first printer that performs printing on the sheet while conveying the sheet, and the host apparatus. A second printer that performs printing on the bankbook while transporting the bankbook, and transports the paper when the first printer prints, and an interface connected between the first printer and the second printer; The first printer is provided in the first printer, controls printing of the first printer in accordance with an instruction from the host device, and transfers an instruction from the host device to the second printer via the interface. a controller, provided in the second printer, to control the printing of the second printer in accordance with an instruction from the host system, before And a second controller for controlling the conveyance of the sheet by the second printer in accordance with an instruction transferred from said first controller when printing of the first printer.

  According to the printing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to easily and accurately control a plurality of printers with the respective controllers without requiring monitoring of the host apparatus and thus without placing a burden on the host apparatus.

The figure which shows the internal structure of one Embodiment of this invention. The block diagram of the control circuit of one Embodiment. The figure which shows transmission / reception of the information between the high-order apparatus and the passbook printer in one Embodiment. The figure which shows transmission / reception of the information between the high-order apparatus and a statement printer in one Embodiment, and transmission / reception of information between a statement printer and a passbook printer.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 1 has a fascia part 2 that serves as both an entrance / exit for the bankbook T and an exit for a statement sheet on the front side. A paper loading unit 3 is provided on the rear side of the printing apparatus 1, and a roll-shaped thermal paper 4 is loaded in the paper loading unit 3. The thermal paper 4 has its leading end pulled out by the first transport means 5 and guided to the transport path 6a. A thermal printing section 7 and a cutting section 8 are disposed along the transport path 6a.

  Further, a second transport unit 10 is provided in the printing apparatus 1. The second transport unit 10 includes transport roller pairs 11a to 11e, an entrance / exit roller pair 12, and a feed roller pair 15 disposed along the transport path 6b, and passes the passbook T inserted into the fascia section 2 to the transport path. While being transported on 6b, the thermal paper 4 sent from the transport path 6a to the transport path 6b is transported toward the fascia section 2. A dot print section 9 having a 24-pin dot matrix head 9a is disposed between the transport roller pairs 11a and 11b in the transport path 6b. The pair of entrance / exit rollers 12 takes in the bankbook T inserted into the fascia section 2 and sends out the printed bankbook T and statement paper out of the fascia section 2.

  A paper sensor 28 that detects the leading edge of the thermal paper 4 is provided on the paper introduction side of the second conveying means 10. A passbook sensor 29 that detects the insertion of the passbook T is provided in the vicinity of the entrance / exit roller pair 12 in the second transport means 10.

  The thermal printing unit 7 of the first transport unit 5 includes first and second thermal heads 17 and 18 disposed at predetermined intervals along the transport direction of the thermal paper 4. The first and second platen rollers 20 and 21 are pressed against the thermal heads 17 and 18 so as to be rotatable. While the thermal paper 4 is nipped and conveyed between the thermal heads 17 and 18 and the platen rollers 20 and 21, information is printed on the front and back surfaces of the thermal paper 17 and 18, respectively.

  The cutting unit 8 has a rotary cutter 23, and when the thermal paper 4 is fed a predetermined distance before the cutting unit 8, the rotary cutter 23 is rotated to cut the thermal paper 4. This cut piece becomes a statement sheet.

  The first transport unit 5 includes first and second platen rollers 20 and 21 that are rotatably contacted with the thermal heads 17 and 18, and the statement paper cut by the rotary cutter 23 is second transport unit. 10 includes a feed roller pair 14 that feeds out 10. The platen rollers 20 and 21, the rotary cutter 23, and the feed roller pair 14 of the first transport unit 5 are rotationally driven by a motor 25. The transport roller pairs 11 a to 11 e, the entrance / exit roller pair 12, and the feed roller pair 15 of the second transport unit 10 are rotationally driven by a motor 26.

  In such a printing apparatus 1, a statement printer (first printer) ST that performs printing on the thermal paper 4 while transporting the thermal paper 4 from the paper loading unit 3 to the first transport unit 5 and its peripheral part is configured. Is done.

  A passbook printer (first printer) that transports the thermal paper 4 during printing of the statement printer ST while printing the bankbook T while transporting the bankbook T from the feed roller pair 15 to the second transport means 10 and its peripheral part. 2 printer) PB is configured.

The control circuit is shown in FIG.
A statement printer ST and a passbook printer PB are connected to a host device (also referred to as a host device) 30 via a USB hub 31. Further, an interface 32 is connected between the statement printer ST and the passbook printer PB.

  The statement printer ST has a controller (first controller) 41. The passbook printer PB has a controller (second controller) 42.

  The controller 41 controls printing of the statement printer ST in accordance with an instruction from the host apparatus 30 and transfers the instruction from the host apparatus 30 to the passbook printer PB via the interface 32 at the time of printing.

  The controller 42 controls the printing of the passbook printer PB in accordance with an instruction from the host device 30 and the thermal paper 4 by the passbook printer PB in accordance with the instruction transferred from the controller 41 when the statement printer ST prints. Control the transport.

The operation will be described.
When printing on the passbook T, as shown in FIG. 3, an instruction (command) is sent from the host device 30 to the passbook printer PB, and the passbook printer PB carries the passbook T and responds to the passbook T according to the instruction. Start operations such as dot matrix printing. Then, response information indicating the start of operation is sent from the passbook printer PB to the host apparatus 30. In addition, during the operation of the passbook printer PB, status request information is sent from the host device 30 to the passbook printer PB, and in response to this status request information, the operation status is changed from the passbook printer PB to the host device 30. Representing status information is sent.

  When printing the thermal paper 4, as shown in FIG. 4, an instruction (command) is sent from the host device 30 to the statement printer ST, and the statement printer ST conveys the thermal paper 4 and applies to the thermal paper 4 according to the instruction. Operations such as thermal printing and cutting of the thermal paper 4 are started. With this start, the instruction (command) sent from the host device 30 to the statement printer ST is directly transferred from the statement printer ST to the passbook printer PB. Based on this transfer, the passbook printer PB starts the conveying operation of the thermal paper 4. At this time, transfer start response information is sent from the passbook printer PB to the statement printer ST. Then, response information indicating the start of conveyance of the passbook printer PB is sent from the statement printer ST to the host device 30.

  When the statement printer ST is operating and the passbook printer PB is operating, the status request information is sent from the host device 30 to the statement printer ST. Accordingly, the same request information is sent from the statement printer ST to the passbook printer PB. In response to this request information, response information regarding the state of the transport operation is sent from the passbook printer PB to the statement printer ST, and status information indicating the operation of the statement printer ST and the state of the transport operation of the passbook printer PB includes: It is sent from the statement printer ST to the host device 30.

  In this way, the host device 30 only needs to give an instruction to the statement printer ST for the printing of the thermal paper 4 and to give an instruction to the passbook printer PB for the printing of the passbook T. The statement printer ST and the passbook printer PB Monitoring to synchronize the operation is completely unnecessary. Therefore, an increase in the burden on the host device 30 and the accompanying cost increase can be avoided.

  Regarding the synchronization of the operations of the statement printer ST and the passbook printer PB, that is, the paper transport operation of the passbook printer PB accompanying the printing operation of the thermal paper 4, the instruction received by the statement printer ST from the host device 30 is received from the statement printer ST. Only by transferring to the passbook printer PB, it is executed reliably.

  The controller 41 of the statement printer ST only needs to control the printing of the thermal paper 4 only by increasing the transfer function, and can easily and accurately control the statement printer ST without causing an increase in performance and associated cost. .

  As the controller 42 of the passbook printer PB, in addition to the control of the passbook printing, it is only necessary to control only the conveyance of the thermal paper 4, and the passbook printer PB can be easily made without any increase in performance and associated costs. It can be controlled accurately.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Fascia part, 4 ... Thermal paper (print medium), 5 ... 1st conveyance means, 6a, 6b ... Conveyance path, 9a ... Dot matrix head, 10 ... 2nd conveyance means, 17, 18 ... Thermal head, 30 ... Host device, 31 ... USB hub, 32 ... interface, T ... passbook, ST ... statement printer (first printer), PB ... passbook printer (second printer), 41 ... controller (first controller), 42 ... controller ( Second controller)

JP 2002-73290 A

Claims (3)

A first printer that operates in accordance with an instruction from the host device and performs printing on the paper while conveying the paper;
A second printer that operates in accordance with an instruction from the host device, performs printing on the bankbook while transporting the bankbook, and transports the paper during printing by the first printer;
An interface connected between the first printer and the second printer;
A first controller that is provided in the first printer and controls printing of the first printer in accordance with an instruction from the host device and transfers the instruction from the host device to the second printer via the interface When,
The second printer is provided in the second printer and controls printing of the second printer in accordance with an instruction from the host device, and the second printer in response to an instruction transferred from the first controller during printing of the first printer. A second controller for controlling paper conveyance by the printer;
A printing apparatus comprising: A first conveying means provided in the first printer for conveying the paper;
A second conveying means provided in the second printer for conveying the passbook and the paper;
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The paper is thermal paper;
The first printer is a thermal printer;
The second printer is a dot matrix printer.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is a printer.

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