JP5253931B2 - Paper jam handling method for printer and printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper jam processing method for a printer that automatically recovers when a paper jam occurs, and a printer that performs the processing.

  Conventionally, when a paper jam occurs in various printers, printing is stopped due to an error display or the like. For example, sublimation printers are often used as unattended ID photo printers, etc. When a paper jam occurs in a printer at such an installation location, the user must wait until a maintenance person goes to the site. I had to.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a control method capable of giving an instruction for solving a problem from a computer to a printer when an error such as a paper jam occurs. That is, when a paper jam occurs, the resistance of the motor that pushes out the paper, that is, the resistance of the roller is reduced to facilitate the removal of the jammed paper.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a method of selecting a paper feed roller capable of discharging paper according to a paper jam occurrence location and forcibly discharging the paper in an appropriate direction.

JP 2001-150763 A JP 2002-68527 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, the user has to remove the paper jammed in the printer by hand. Also in Patent Document 2, the user must remove the discharged paper and perform the printing process again.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a paper jam processing method for a printer and a printer for performing the processing that automatically perform a normal printing in the printer when a paper jam occurs.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a printer that prints while conveying a continuous printing sheet in the conveying direction between a grip roller and a pinch roller, and cuts the printing sheet with a cutter. The printing paper is returned to the opposite direction, and the jammed portion of the printing paper is sandwiched again by the grip roller and the pinch roller, and is conveyed again in the conveyance direction before the leading edge of the printing paper is detached from the grip roller. Then, the present invention provides a paper jam processing method for a printer, in which the printing process can be resumed after the printing paper conveyed after the paper jam has occurred is shredded by the cutter. By returning the paper jammed portion, the paper is sandwiched again by the grip roller and the pinch roller, the wrinkles are extended, and the paper can be transported in the transport direction. In addition, using a cutter provided in advance in the printer, the unusable part can be cut off, and then normal printing can be performed.

  When returning the printing paper in the reverse direction, the printing paper may be returned at a speed equal to or less than one-fourth of the conveyance speed during normal printing. By applying torque at a low speed, the effect of extending the printing paper in the jammed portion is enhanced. Further, when returning the printing paper in the reverse direction, if the printing paper is heated by a printing thermal head, the wrinkles of the printing paper can be further extended.

  When sensors are installed at a plurality of locations along the conveyance direction of the printing paper, and each sensor does not detect the passage of the printing paper corresponding to the number of pulses of the conveyance motor that drives the grip roller, It is preferable to recognize the occurrence.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer that performs printing while conveying a printing sheet continuous in a conveyance direction between a grip roller and a pinch roller, and cuts the printing sheet with a cutter, in the conveyance direction of the printing sheet. Sensors are provided at a plurality of locations, and the number of pulses of the conveyance motor that drives the grip roller is associated with the detection of the passage of the printing paper by the sensor to determine whether there is a paper jam, and when there is a paper jam. When it is determined that the paper has occurred, the rotation direction of the conveyance motor is controlled so as to sandwich the paper jammed portion of the printing paper with the grip roller and the pinch roller, and the paper jammed portion of the paper jammed is cut. It is characterized in that the control device is provided for controlling the operation of the rotation direction and the rotation speed of the conveying motor and the cutter as The printer is provided.

  According to the present invention, even if a paper jam occurs, the printer automatically returns within the printer, so that the printer does not stop even if the user or maintenance staff does not perform repair work or the like.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a sublimation printer 1 which is an example of a printer according to the present invention. The printing paper 3 wound around the paper roll 2 in a roll shape is conveyed while being sandwiched between a grip roller 4 and a pinch roller 5 which are arranged to face each other. The grip roller 4 receives a rotational force from a conveyance motor 6 that is a stepping motor. The conveyance motor 6 is connected to the control device 7 and the number of rotations, the rotation direction, and the like are controlled.

  A platen roller 8 is provided in front of the printing paper 3 after passing between the grip roller 4 and the pinch roller 5. The printing paper 3 is printed by the platen roller 8, the ink ribbon 9 and the thermal head 10.

The ink ribbon 9 is supplied from the supply roller 11, passes through the thermal head 10, is printed on the printing paper 3, and is then wound around the winding roller 12. The ink ribbon 9 has a configuration in which three primary colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), and yellow (Y) are connected.

  At the time of printing, when the leading edge of the printing paper 3 passes the position of the platen roller 8 and is conveyed to a predetermined position, the thermal head 10 disposed on the upper side of the ink ribbon 9 descends onto the ink ribbon 9. That is, the platen roller 8, the printing paper 3, the ink ribbon 9, and the thermal head 10 are superposed in order from the bottom. Then, the printing paper 3 is printed while being conveyed in the direction of rewinding the paper roll 2. When energy is applied by applying electricity to a resistor (not shown) in the thermal head 10, heat is generated in the thermal head 10, the heat is transmitted to the ink ribbon 9, and the dye applied to the ink ribbon 9 is sublimated. To do. A large number of fine holes are formed in the image receiving layer on the surface of the printing paper 3, and an image is formed by the sublimation dye soaking into the holes. The temperature of the head rises according to the amount of current passed through the thermal head 10, and the dye on the ink ribbon 9 sublimates by an appropriate amount according to the temperature, and is transferred to the printing paper 3. As described above, the sublimation printer can control the amount of ink sublimated by the amount of heat, and therefore can express fine gradations, and is widely used for printing photographs.

  Further, a guide member 13 for guiding the printing paper 3 in the discharge direction is provided in front of the conveyance direction of the printing paper 3, and a cutter 14 for cutting the printed printing paper 3 is further provided in front. The cutter 14 is operated by a motor 17, and the motor 17 is connected to the control device 7 and its operation is controlled. Below the cutter 14, a disposal box 16 that houses the slag 15 that has been cut off is provided.

  In the conveyance path of the printing paper 3 as described above, three sensors for detecting the passage of the printing paper 3 are arranged in the illustrated example. The sensor A that detects the photographic paper 3 first is provided between the grip roller 4 and the thermal head 10 and detects the photographic paper 3 conveyed between the grip roller 4 and the pinch roller 5. The next sensor B is provided in front of the guide member 13 and detects the printing paper 3 that has passed through the guide member 13. Further, the next sensor C is provided in front of the cutter 14 and detects the printing paper 3 cut by the cutter 14. Each of these sensors A, B, and C is connected to the control device 7.

  In the sublimation type printer 1 as shown in FIG. 1, the paper jam is caused by the step-out of the conveyance motor 6, the slipping of the grip roller 4, the sticking of the ink ribbon 9 to the printing paper 3, the thermal head 10 or the guide of the printing paper 3. It may be caused by a collision with the member 13 or the like. Accordingly, the sensors A, B, and C are provided, for example, when the photographic paper 3 is not detected by the sensor A even though the conveyance motor 6 rotates by a predetermined pulse, or after the photographic paper 3 is detected by the sensor A, the conveyance is performed. If the sensor B does not detect the motor 6 after a predetermined pulse rotation, the control device 7 recognizes the occurrence of a paper jam and instructs execution of the paper jam processing.

  Hereinafter, the procedure of the paper jam processing will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure.

  When printing is started (S1) and the sensors A, B, and C normally detect the passage of the printing paper 3 in response to the rotation of the conveyance motor 6 (S2, S3, S4), the printing portion of the printing paper 3 is printed. Is cut (S5), and the operation is completed.

  If any of the sensors A, B, and C does not detect the passage of the printing paper 3 in response to the rotation of the transport motor 6, the control device 7 recognizes the occurrence of a paper jam and the transport motor 6 is temporarily stopped. (S6). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the printing paper 3 is caught by the entrance of the guide member 13, the printing paper 3 does not pass through the guide member 13, so that detection by the sensor B is not performed and occurrence of a paper jam is recognized. .

  When the paper jam occurs, the pulse control of the transport motor 6 including a stepping motor is performed, and the grip roller 4 is temporarily reversely rotated to pull back the printing paper 3 (S7). At this time, for example, as shown in FIG. When the jammed printing paper 3 is sandwiched between the grip roller 4 and the pinch roller 5, the wrinkles are extended. Further, when a paper jam occurs after passing through the thermal head 10 as shown in FIG. 3, if the thermal head 10 is passed again at the time of pulling back, the printing paper 3 is heated and wrinkles are extended. The rotation speed of the conveyance motor 6 is, for example, 4000 to 5000 pps at the time of normal printing, but at a low speed of 1000 ppm or less at the time of reverse rotation, the printing paper 3 is rewound by applying a torque and wrinkled. Can be extended. Thereby, the wrinkle of the printing paper 3 is extended rather than the state of FIG. If the printing paper 3 is loose at the time of paper jam, it may be sandwiched again after releasing the gripping by the grip roller 4 and the pinch roller 5. In this manner, once the jammed photographic printing paper 3 is returned to the opposite direction, wrinkles and creases are extended and can be conveyed along a normal conveyance path.

  Thereafter, the transport motor 6 is rotated again in the transport direction, and is again sandwiched between the grip roller 4 and the pinch roller 5 to transport the printing paper 3 (S8). If the printing paper 3 is heated when passing through the thermal head 10, the wrinkles can be further extended. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the printing paper 3 that has once jammed can pass through the guide member 13. Even when the printing paper 3 is transported again in the transport direction, if the transport motor 6 is rotated at a low speed and the printing paper 3 is transported with torque applied, the printing paper 3 on which wrinkles and the like remain is reliably transported. it can.

  Since the portion once jammed cannot be used as printing paper, the printing paper 3 conveyed to the front end of the printer 1 is shredded by the cutter 14 and discarded in the disposal box 16 (S9). Normally, in the sublimation type printer, as shown in FIG. 6, the cut-off portion 21 protruding from the printing portion 20 is cut off by the cutter 14 and discarded as slag. The operation of the transport motor 6 and the cutter 14 is performed so that the paper jam portion 22 of the printing paper 3 that has caused the paper jam has the same size as the cutout portion 21 of the printing paper 3 that has been normally printed in this way. It is controlled by the control device 7 and is shredded as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The range of the jammed portion 22 to be shredded is set in advance, for example, twice that of the normal printing portion 20. As a result, the jammed portion 22 with wrinkles or creases is automatically discarded without being discharged outside the sublimation printer 1. In addition, by being shredded, the paper jammed portion 22 can be used as it is without changing the dimensions of the waste box 16 that has been conventionally installed.

  When the paper jam portion 22 is discarded, printing can be resumed, printing is resumed, and printing is repeated until the printing is completed normally without paper jam. Note that the number of occurrences of paper jams may be recorded in the control device 7, and when a predetermined number of times is exceeded, communication may be performed with a host computer or the like to perform maintenance.

  The printing paper used in the sublimation printer usually has a resin layer such as PET on the surface, and therefore has a property that it is not easily torn even when pulled by the grip roller 4 or the like and is easily extended by heat. Therefore, according to the present invention, wrinkles and the like generated at the time of paper jam are extended, and conveyance to the position of the cutter 14 becomes possible. In this way, even if a paper jam occurs in the printer 1, it is resolved without the user performing a processing operation. Therefore, even when the printer is installed in an unattended ID photo box or the like, the maintenance staff does not have to go to the site to remove the paper jam. Furthermore, by resuming printing after the paper jam is processed, the user can obtain a normal print without performing any special operation.

  8-10 illustrate different embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a different procedure of the paper jam processing, and the procedures of S1 to S9 are the same as the procedure of FIG.

  FIG. 9 shows a state in which the printing paper 3 is jammed in front of the thermal head 10. In the example of FIG. 9, the sensor A that first detects the printing paper 3 is provided in front of the thermal head 10 in the transport direction, and detects the printing paper 3 that has passed through the thermal head 10. The next sensor B is provided in a notch formed in the guide member 13 and detects the printing paper 3 passing through the guide member 13. Further, the next sensor C is provided in front of the cutter 14 and detects the printing paper 3 cut by the cutter 14. Each of these sensors A, B, and C is connected to the control device 7.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when a paper jam occurs in front of the thermal head 10, the printing paper 3 is not detected by the sensor A. Therefore, the paper jam is recognized by the control device 7, and the paper jam processing is performed. Done.

  First, the conveyance motor 6 is temporarily stopped (S10), and the printing paper 3 is moved in the conveyance direction until the jammed portion is in front of the thermal head 10 with the thermal head 10 raised as shown in FIG. The conveying motor 6 is stopped at a low speed (S11) and the conveying motor 6 is stopped (S12).

  Thereafter, the thermal head 10 is lowered (S13), and the printing paper 3 is rewound in the reverse direction in the same manner as in the procedure of FIG. 2 described above (S7). By lowering the thermal head 10, the jammed portion is heated by the thermal head 10 and wrinkles can be extended. The subsequent procedure is the same as in FIG.

  Even when the printing paper 3 is jammed in front of the thermal head 10, the processing may be performed according to the procedure shown in FIG.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to this example. It is obvious for those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. It is understood that it belongs to. For example, when a paper jam occurs, only the automatic paper discarding process may be performed to cancel printing. In the case of automatic recovery, the number of retries may be set, and when a paper jam occurs further, the printer may be maintained without automatic recovery. Further, the photographic printing paper jammed may be rewound without being heated by the thermal head.

  The present invention can be applied to paper jam processing of a thermal transfer type printer.

1 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a sublimation printer according to the present invention. 6 is a flowchart showing a paper jam handling procedure according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a paper jam state in the printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which the printing paper of FIG. 3 has been rewound. The figure which shows the state which conveyed the printing paper of FIG. 4 again. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a printing part and a cut-off part in a sublimation printer. The top view which shows the shredding method of the paper jam part by this invention. 6 is a flowchart showing a different paper jam handling procedure of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of different paper jam states in a sublimation printer. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an initial procedure of a paper jam processing for the printing paper of FIG. 9.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sublimation type printer 2 Paper roll 3 Printing paper 4 Grip roller 5 Pinch roller 6 Conveyance motor 7 Control device 8 Platen roller 9 Ink ribbon 10 Thermal head 13 Guide member 14 Cutter 15 Slag 16 Waste box 17 Motor

Claims (5)

In the printer that prints while conveying the printing paper continuous in the conveyance direction between the grip roller and the pinch roller, and cuts the printing paper with a cutter,
When a paper jam occurs, the printing paper is returned in the reverse direction, and the jammed portion of the printing paper is pinched again by the grip roller and the pinch roller, and before the leading edge of the printing paper comes off the grip roller. A paper jam processing method for a printer, characterized in that the printing process can be resumed after the printing paper which has been conveyed again in the conveyance direction and conveyed after a paper jam occurs is shredded by the cutter.   2. The paper jam handling method for a printer according to claim 1, wherein when the printing paper is returned in the reverse direction, the printing paper is returned at a speed equal to or lower than a quarter of a conveyance speed at the time of normal printing.   3. The paper jam handling method for a printer according to claim 1, wherein when the printing paper is returned in the reverse direction, the printing paper is heated by a printing thermal head.   When sensors are installed at a plurality of locations along the conveyance direction of the printing paper, and each sensor does not detect the passage of the printing paper corresponding to the number of pulses of the conveyance motor that drives the grip roller, The paper jam handling method for a printer according to claim 1, wherein occurrence is recognized. A printer that prints while conveying a photographic paper continuous in a conveying direction between a grip roller and a pinch roller, and cuts the photographic paper with a cutter,
Sensors are provided at a plurality of locations along the conveyance direction of the photographic paper, and the number of pulses of the conveyance motor that drives the grip roller is associated with the detection of the passage of the photographic paper by the sensor to determine whether there is a paper jam. When it is determined that a paper jam has occurred , the rotation direction of the transport motor is controlled so that the jammed portion of the printing paper is sandwiched by the grip roller and the pinch roller, and the printing paper is jammed. A printer comprising a control device for controlling the operation of the cutter so as to cut a paper jam portion .

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