JP5549358B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that prints characters and the like on a printing medium such as a long tube. More specifically, after temporarily stopping the conveyance of the print medium during execution of printing on the print medium, the printing surface of the print medium moves in the conveyance direction by one dot line when the printing medium is resumed and printing is performed. As described above, after the print medium is moved by the predetermined number of conveyance steps, the print data next to the print data printed before the stop is printed on the print surface of the print medium.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing apparatuses for printing letters, numbers, etc. on a printing medium such as a long tube or tape have been widely used. This printing apparatus has a conveyance roller, a platen roller, a thermal head, and a cutter, and has an additional function, for example, a function of performing a cutting process such as a half cut at a predetermined pitch during printing.

  When the printing process is started in the printing apparatus having such a function, the printing medium is conveyed to the printing position of the thermal head by the conveying roller and the platen roller. At this time, the ink ribbon is heated by applying energy corresponding to the print data by the thermal head, and a predetermined character or the like is printed on the print surface of the print medium. The tube on which predetermined characters or the like are printed by the thermal head is conveyed downstream in the conveying direction by a platen roller or the like. Then, when the printing medium is conveyed to the cutting position, the rotation of the conveying roller and the platen roller is temporarily stopped and printing by the thermal head is temporarily stopped, and the printing medium is cut (full cut or half cut) by the cutter. The When the cutting by the cutter is completed, the transport roller and the platen roller are rotated again, the ink ribbon is heated by the thermal head, and predetermined characters and the like are printed on the print surface of the print medium.

  However, in the conveyance control in which the conveyance of the printing medium as described above is temporarily stopped and cut and then the conveyance is restarted and printing is performed, the interval between printing before and after the cutting is determined depending on the characteristics of the material of the printing medium. There has been a problem that “white spots” that cause missing prints and “character breakup” due to broken print connections occur.

  FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are diagrams for explaining “white spots” and “character collapse” that occur when printing is temporarily stopped. The tube 200 is pressed and crushed by the thermal head at the time of printing, but the stretchable tube 200 extends in the rotation direction opposite to the conveyance direction and has a thickness between the conveyance surface 200a and the printing surface 200b. Deflection occurs in the transport amount. Usually, since the bending is constant during conveyance, printing is normally performed regardless of the bending of the tube 200. However, since the bending (energy) is released when the conveyance of the tube 200 is stopped, a force for rotating the tube 200 downstream in the conveyance direction is generated. As a result, when the tube 200 moves in the transport direction, the print start position also moves in the transport direction, which causes a problem that the print position is shifted and a “white spot” phenomenon occurs.

  When the cutting of the tube 200 is finished and the printing is resumed, at the beginning of the resumption, the conveying surface on the platen roller 210 side moves in the conveying direction due to the rotation of the platen roller 210 due to the elasticity of the tube 200. However, the amount of movement of the printed surface 200b on the driven side is reduced by the bending based on the stretchability of the tube 200. If printing is performed in such a state, printing is executed before moving one dot line. As a result, the interval between the previous dot line printed before stopping and the interval between the next dot dot line when printing resumes and the next one dot line are clogged, resulting in the occurrence of “character collapse”. is there.

  As a technique for solving the above-described “white spot” problem, for example, before entering processing such as cutting of the print medium, the print medium is conveyed in the reverse direction equivalent to the deformation at the time of conveyance, or long printing is performed. Proposing a printing device that prevents white spots by printing one or more lines of print data that has continued from the time when the conveyance of the medium is stopped, by the number of times set according to the type of the long print medium. It has been developed (see Patent Documents 1 to 3). According to these apparatuses, since the print medium is reversely conveyed or the same dot line is printed, the “white spot” can be eliminated.

Japanese Patent No. 4310868 Japanese Patent No. 3166206 JP 2002-254757 A

  However, since the printing devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a problem of eliminating “white spots”, the problem of “character collapse” has not been solved. FIG. 11A to FIG. 11H show print dot patterns when, for example, the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 is used to temporarily stop printing, perform cutting processing, and then resume printing. ing. One dot line is printed (FIG. 11A), and after the conveyance motor is rotated forward by one step, if it is determined that the tube is at the cutting position, the next one dot line is printed (FIG. 11B). ), The transport motor rotates in the reverse direction (FIG. 11C). Thereby, since it rotates backward so that the stress by the bending of a tube may be canceled, it prints without missing between dots. Next, the tube moves to the downstream side in the conveying direction of the tube, including the portion that has been returned by the reverse rotation due to the reverse rotation (FIG. 11D). Then, by printing one dot line at the start of printing after cutting on the previous data (FIG. 11E), printing omission is prevented.

  However, when the printing operation is resumed, the tube does not move by one step with respect to one step of the transport motor until the deflection is formed again. Therefore, in the next one step, the tube is clogged with respect to the previous dot line. In this state, the image is printed (FIG. 11F). Further, in the next step, since the bending of the tube has not been eliminated, printing is performed in a clogged state with respect to the previous dot line (FIG. 11 (G)). Therefore, as a final printing result, the characters are broken (FIG. 11H), and the broken characters cannot be solved.

  In addition, the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 3 described above solves the “character collapse” as one of the problems, and as a solution to this problem, the same line is printed a plurality of times in accordance with the amount of movement due to the bending of the tube. Yes. 12 (A) and 12 (B) show a print dot pattern when the printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 3 is used to temporarily stop printing, perform cutting processing, and then resume printing. Yes. According to this printing apparatus, since the shape of dots to be printed is a constant size, “character breakup” does not occur when the print line data is the same (FIG. 12A), but the print line data If they are different, the actual printing result will be thicker as the printing dot line is printed a plurality of times (FIG. 12B). Therefore, the cited document 3 also has a problem that “character breakup” cannot be completely solved depending on print data.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent character corruption that occurs at the beginning of transport resumption when printing is performed by resuming transport after pausing printing processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus that makes it possible.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a printing apparatus according to the present invention temporarily stops conveyance of a print medium while printing on a long print medium, and then resumes conveyance of the print medium to perform printing. A printing device having a printing function for performing printing, a conveyance unit that conveys the print medium, and a printing unit that prints dot lines based on print data on a print surface of the print medium conveyed by the conveyance unit; A controller that controls the transport unit and the printing unit, and when the control unit resumes transport of the print medium, the print surface of the print medium moves in the transport direction by an amount corresponding to one dot line. after the allowed print medium is moved a predetermined transport number of steps as, met Printout apparatus so as to print the next print data of the print data printed before the pause in the printing surface of the printing medium And The printing unit further includes a cutting unit that cuts the printing medium provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the printing unit, and the control unit moves in the conveyance direction of the printing medium that occurs when the printing medium is cut by the cutting unit. The amount of movement of the print medium, which is the sum of the amount and the amount of movement of the print medium that moves in the conveyance direction by the predetermined number of conveyance steps when resuming conveyance of the print medium, corresponds to the one dot line. The printing medium is moved by the predetermined number of conveyance steps .

The printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus having a printing function for performing printing by temporarily stopping conveyance of the printing medium during execution of printing on the printing medium and then restarting conveyance of the printing medium. A printing unit that conveys the printing medium, a printing unit that prints a dot line based on the print data on a printing surface of the printing medium conveyed by the conveyance unit, and a printing medium provided downstream of the printing unit in the conveyance direction. And a control unit that controls the conveyance unit and the printing unit, and the control unit reverses the amount of deformation equivalent to the amount during the conveyance of the print medium before entering the cutting process by the print medium cutting unit. New print data is printed on the print medium while the print medium is being conveyed, and then the print medium is stopped by stopping the conveyance of the print medium. Transports for one dot line After the print medium is moved a predetermined transport number of steps to move toward, a printing apparatus adapted to print the next print data of the print data printed before stopping the printing surface of the print medium, the control The unit combines the amount of movement of the print medium in the conveyance direction that occurs when the print medium is cut by the cutting unit and the amount of movement of the print medium that moves in the conveyance direction according to a predetermined number of conveyance steps when the conveyance of the print medium is resumed. The print medium is moved by a predetermined number of transport steps so that the amount of movement of the print medium is equivalent to one dot line .

  When printing is performed on a print medium by temporarily stopping the conveyance of the print medium and then restarting the conveyance of the print medium to perform printing, at the beginning of the conveyance resumption, the conveyance surface of the print medium is moved to the conveyance unit. Along with this, it moves in the transport direction, but the print surface opposite to the transport surface hardly moves in the transport direction due to causes such as bending of the print medium. For this reason, at the beginning of resumption of conveyance, one dot line does not advance in one conveyance step as in normal conveyance.

  Therefore, in the printing apparatus according to the present invention, when the conveyance of the printing medium is resumed, the control unit moves the printing surface of the printing medium by one dot line to move the printing medium instead of the normal one conveyance step. Move by the number of transport steps. The number of transport steps can be set for each type and diameter (size) of the print medium. This is because characteristics such as the amount of deflection differ depending on the type and diameter of the print medium. As a result, the printing surface of the printing medium when resuming conveyance advances by one dot line with one or a plurality of conveyance steps. As a result, since the dot line position that has been printed just before the temporary stop of the conveyance is advanced by one dot line, it is possible to prevent the printing failure such that the dot line interval is clogged.

  According to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the printing medium is moved in the conveyance direction by a predetermined number of conveyance steps so that the printing surface of the printing medium moves by one dot line before resuming printing at the time of conveyance of the printing medium again. Since they are moved, it is possible to reliably prevent printing characters from being lost when resuming printing. Further, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the print medium is reversely conveyed by the predetermined number of conveyance steps before the cutting process, so that it is possible to prevent white spots of the print that occur when the print medium is stopped.

1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration example of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an internal configuration example of the printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the principal part of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the state of the tube by which the half cut was carried out. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a block configuration example of a printing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structural example of an idle feeding conveyance table. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a timing chart of an operation example of the printing apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the printing apparatus. (A)-(J) is a figure which shows the dot pattern printed by the printing apparatus of this invention. (A) And (B) is a figure for demonstrating the "white-out" and the "character collapse" which generate | occur | produce when printing stops temporarily. (A)-(H) is a figure which shows the dot line pattern printed by the conventional printer (the 1). (A) And (B) is a figure which shows the dot line pattern printed by the conventional printing apparatus (the 2).

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the invention (hereinafter referred to as an embodiment) will be described.
[External configuration example of printing device]
The printing apparatus 100 according to the present invention has a printing surface of a print medium when printing is performed by resuming the conveyance of the print medium after the conveyance of the print medium is temporarily stopped during printing on the long print medium. Moves the printing medium by a predetermined number of conveyance steps so as to move in the conveyance direction by one dot line, and then prints the next printing data of the printing data printed before the stop on the printing surface of the printing medium. .

  As the print medium, for example, a long tube 80 (see FIG. 3), a long and soft long plastic plate, or the like is used. In this example, an example in which a tube 80 is used as a printing medium will be described. A surface on the platen roller 30 side is referred to as a conveyance surface 80a, and a surface opposite to the conveyance surface 80a is referred to as a printing surface 80b (see FIG. 3). . As the type of the tube 80 used, for example, a polyvinyl chloride tube, a heat shrinkable tube, a non-vinyl chloride tube, or the like is used.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of an external configuration of a printing apparatus 100 according to the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 100 includes a printing apparatus main body 10, an input unit 12, and a display unit 14. The printing apparatus main body 10 is a casing having a predetermined thickness and having a rectangular shape in plan view, and a circuit board on which a platen roller 30, a thermal head 32, a cutter 52, a CPU 70, etc., which will be described later, are mounted. Built in. A discharge port 16 through which a tube 80 or the like on which a predetermined character or the like is printed is provided on the left side surface portion of the printing apparatus main body 10. A full cut button 18 for completely separating and cutting the tube 80 discharged from the discharge port 16 is provided slightly below the discharge port 16.

  The input unit 12 is disposed in the lower front portion of the printing apparatus main body 10 and includes a plurality of operation buttons such as a character button, a numeric button, a print start button, and an idle feed setting button for setting the number of conveyance steps during idle feed conveyance. It is comprised by. The input unit 12 accepts input of characters and numbers to be printed on the tube 80, and accepts input of the type of tube 80 and the diameter of the tube for setting the number of transport steps at the time of idle transport described later.

  The display unit 14 is provided at the right end at the center of the front surface of the printing apparatus main body 10 and includes, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The display unit 14 displays characters, numbers, etc. printed on the tube 80 input by the input unit 12, and the type of tube 80 and the diameter of the tube for setting the number of transport steps at the time of idle transport described later. The selection screen for selecting is displayed.

[Example of internal configuration of printing device]
Next, an example of the internal configuration of the printing apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 2 shows an example of the internal configuration of the printing apparatus 100, and FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the main part thereof. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the printing apparatus 100 includes a platen roller 30, a thermal head 32, a head moving mechanism 38, an ink ribbon cassette 40, a cutting unit 50, and a cutter driving unit 60.

  The platen roller 30 is rotatably supported by a bearing portion attached to the lower plate 36, and is driven to rotate (forward rotation or reverse rotation) by driving a conveyance motor 34 described later. Thus, the tube 80 is transported along the transport direction during normal transport and idle transport, and the tube 80 is transported in the reverse direction to the transport direction during reverse transport. The platen roller 30 constitutes an example of a transport unit.

  The thermal head 32 is disposed opposite to the platen roller 30 and applies recording energy supplied from a thermal head driving circuit (not shown) to the ink ribbon 46 to print predetermined characters or the like on the printing surface 80 b of the tube 80. The thermal head 32 is connected to a head moving mechanism 38. The thermal head 32 can move toward or away from the platen roller 30 by operating a lever that constitutes the head moving mechanism 38. At the time of printing (conveying), the thermal head 32 approaches the platen roller 30, and the ink ribbon 46 and the tube 80 are sandwiched and pressed between the thermal head 32 and the platen roller 30, and predetermined characters and the like are printed on the tube 80. The thermal head 32 constitutes an example of a printing unit.

  The ink ribbon cassette 40 is detachably attached to the ink ribbon storage portion below the thermal head 32. The ink ribbon cassette 40 has a delivery reel 42, a take-up reel 44, and an ink ribbon 46. The take-up reel 44 rotates in synchronization with the platen roller 30 by the driving force of the transport motor 34 and takes up the ink ribbon 46 wound around the feed reel 42.

  The cutting unit 50 is provided on the downstream side in the conveying direction of the platen roller 30 and the thermal head 32 and includes a cutter 52 and a cradle 54. A cutter driving unit 60 is provided on the downstream side of the cutting unit 50. The cutter driving unit 60 includes a cut motor 62 and a plurality of gears 64 connected to the cutting unit 50. The cutter 52 moves toward and away from the pedestal 54 by driving the cutter driving unit 60 to half-cut or full-cut the tube 80.

  FIG. 4 shows a state where the tube 80 is half cut. As shown in FIG. 4, half-cutting is performed by cutting a part of the tube 80 so that it can be transported in a state in which the tube 80 on which the printing has been performed is connected, and using scissors or the like when used. For example, it means a cutting method that enables easy cutting by pulling the tube 80 with a user's hand without using it. The cut tube 80 is attached to, for example, an electric wiring cord or the like and used as a code identifying means.

[Block configuration example of printing device]
FIG. 5 shows an example of a block configuration of the printing apparatus 100. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the printing apparatus 100 includes a CPU 70, a ROM 72, a RAM 74, an input unit 12, a display unit 14, a thermal head 32, a conveyance motor 34, a cut motor 62, and a sensor 76. The CPU 70 constitutes an example of a control unit.

  The CPU 70 develops the program and data read from the ROM 72 on the RAM 74 and activates the program, and controls the operation of each unit of the printing apparatus 100. When the tube 80 reaches the cutting position during printing on the tube 80, the CPU 70 performs reverse conveyance for a predetermined number of conveyance steps, and then temporarily stops conveyance of the tube 80 to perform cutting processing. A printing function for performing printing by resuming conveyance is provided. At this time, the CPU 70 supplies recording energy corresponding to the print data to the thermal head 32 so that one dot line is printed in one transport step during normal printing, and is predetermined when printing is temporarily stopped and printing is resumed. The platen roller 30 and the thermal head are controlled so that recording energy is not applied to the thermal head 32 only during the number of transport steps, and then the print data next to the print data printed before the temporary stop is printed on the tube 80. 32 etc. are controlled.

  In the ROM 72, a recording control program for applying recording energy to the thermal head 32, an idle feeding conveyance program for controlling the printing so as not to be printed for a predetermined conveyance step when resuming printing after the printing is temporarily stopped, and a tube 80 by a predetermined amount. A conveyance control program for conveyance, various programs necessary for controlling the other printing apparatus 100, and an idle feed conveyance table TB described later are stored. The RAM 74 is used for temporarily storing data necessary for the control processing of the CPU 70.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the idle feed conveyance table TB stored in the ROM 72. In the idle feed table TB, the types of tubes 80, the diameter of each tube, and the idle feed amount are stored in association with each other. Steps are set. This is because the elasticity and stretchability are different for each type and diameter of the tube 80, and the amount of movement of the print surface 80b of the tube 80 when printing is resumed also differs. For example, in the transfer table TB, three types of tubes 80, a heat shrink tube, a vinyl chloride tube, and a non-vinyl chloride tube, are set, and the tube 80 has two sizes of 5.2 mm and 3.6 mm. Is set, and the idle feed conveyance step amount (for example, 1, 2, 3) is set according to the type and diameter of each tube 80. In addition, it is preferable that the contents (information) of the pre-feed conveyance table TB are stored at the time of product shipment, for example, and can be updated when a new tube type or diameter is added after the product shipment. In addition, a non-volatile memory other than the ROM 72 can be provided, and the idle feed table TB can be stored in the non-volatile memory.

  The input unit 12 generates an operation signal corresponding to the operation button pressed by the user and supplies the operation signal to the CPU 70. The display unit 14 drives a driving circuit based on display data read from a memory such as the RAM 74 by an operation signal from the input unit 12 and displays characters, numbers, and the like on the screen.

  The thermal head 32 has a thermal head drive circuit (not shown). The thermal head drive circuit is driven based on a drive signal corresponding to print data supplied from the CPU 70 and applies recording energy corresponding to the print data to the thermal head 32. The thermal head 32 prints predetermined characters and numbers on the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 based on the recording energy applied by the thermal head drive circuit.

  The conveyance motor 34 is rotationally controlled based on a control signal supplied from the CPU 70, and rotationally drives the platen roller 30, the conveyance roller, and the like. For example, during normal conveyance and idle feeding conveyance, it rotates forward by a control signal from the CPU 70, during reverse conveyance by reverse rotation by a control signal from the CPU 70, and stops when the tube 80 is cut.

  The cut motor 62 is driven to rotate based on a drive signal supplied from the CPU 70 to bring the cutter 52 close to or away from the cradle 54. By this cutting process, the tube 80 is full cut or half cut.

  The sensor 76 detects, for example, the drive of the gear 64 connected to the cut motor 62 and the cutting unit 50, supplies a cut end detection signal to the CPU 70, and detects the rotation amount of the delivery reel 42 of the ink ribbon 46 to detect it. A signal is supplied to the CPU 70.

[Operation example of the printing device (timing chart)]
Next, a timing chart showing an example of the operation of the printing apparatus 100 will be described. FIG. 7A to FIG. 7F are timing charts showing an example of the operation of the printing apparatus 100. Hereinafter, a case where a stepping motor having coils of A phase, B phase, C phase, and D phase is used as the conveyance motor 34 will be described.

  When the printing process is started, pulses are supplied to the transport motor 34 in the order of coils A-phase, B-phase, C-phase, and D-phase based on an instruction from the CPU 70 (FIG. 7A to FIG. 7). D)). As a result, when the transport motor 34 rotates forward, the platen roller 30 and the transport roller rotate forward, and the tube 80 pressed by the platen roller 30 is transported along the transport direction (hereinafter referred to as normal transport).

  At this time, the recording energy based on the print data is applied to the thermal head 32 based on an instruction from the CPU 70 (FIG. 7E), and one dot line is printed for each conveyance step. In this example, during normal conveyance, recording energy for 4 dot lines is applied to the thermal head 32, and 4 dot lines are printed on the printing surface 80 b of the tube 80.

  Subsequently, when the tube 80 is transported to the cutting position, pulses are supplied to the transport motor 34 in the order of the coil D phase, C phase, B phase, and A phase in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 70 (FIG. 7A to FIG. 7). FIG. 7D). Thereby, the drive of the conveyance motor 34 is switched from forward rotation to reverse rotation. When the transport motor 34 rotates in the reverse direction, the platen roller 30 and the transport roller rotate in reverse, and the tube 80 pressed by the platen roller 30 is transported by a predetermined step in the direction opposite to the transport direction (hereinafter referred to as reverse rotation). Called conveyance). FIG. 7 shows an example in which reverse conveyance is performed for three conveyance steps. The number of reverse conveyance steps can be arbitrarily set in accordance with the behavior characteristics of each tube type and diameter.

  Further, during this reverse conveyance, recording energy based on the print data is applied to the thermal head 32 from the thermal head drive circuit according to an instruction from the CPU 70 in order to prevent printing omission (FIG. 7E). In this example, for example, one dot line is printed on the print surface 80b of the tube 80 during reverse conveyance. As described above, the reverse conveyance is performed, and the printing is performed during the reverse conveyance. When the tube 80, which will be described later, is stopped, the tube 80 moves to the downstream side in the conveyance direction due to the bending of the tube 80, thereby preventing the printing omission. It is to do.

  When the reverse conveyance is finished, the CPU 70 stops supplying pulses to the coils A phase, B phase, C phase, and D phase of the conveyance motor 34 to stop the reverse rotation of the conveyance motor 34 (FIG. 7A to FIG. 7). FIG. 7D). Thereafter, a drive signal is supplied to the cut motor 62 (FIG. 7F). Thereby, the cutter 52 is driven and the tube 80 conveyed to the cutting position is half cut. When the same print line data continues before and after cutting, printing may be performed by energizing the thermal head 32 while the cut motor 62 is driven in order to reliably prevent character corruption and missing printing.

  When the supply of the drive signal to the cut motor 62 is stopped and the half-cut process is completed, pulses are supplied to the transport motor 34 in the order of A phase, B phase, C phase, and D phase based on an instruction from the CPU 70. (FIGS. 7A to 7D). Thereby, the drive of the conveyance motor 34 is switched from reverse rotation to normal rotation. When the transport motor 34 rotates forward, the platen roller 30 and the transport roller rotate forward. At the time of resuming the conveyance, the conveyance surface 80a of the tube 80 moves according to the conveyance step, but the moving amount of the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is reduced due to the bending when the conveyance is resumed. Therefore, in the present invention, the feeding movement is performed until the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 moves one dot line from the dot line printed before the half-cut process. The idle feed transports the tube 80 by a predetermined number of transport steps so that the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 moves by one dot line from the dot line position printed at the time of reverse transport. It is the conveyance control which does not perform. In this example, the CPU 70 moves the tube 80 by two conveyance steps after resuming the conveyance, and controls so that the recording energy is not applied to the thermal head 32 in the two conveyance steps during this period (dotted line portion B in FIG. 7E). The number of transport steps in this idle transport can be arbitrarily set according to behavioral characteristics such as the type and diameter of the tube.

  In the above description, in the idle feed conveyance, the number of conveyance steps in which characters or the like are not printed is set considering only the bending amount of the tube 80 when the conveyance is resumed. However, the conveyance of the tube 80 that occurs during the half-cut processing is set. In consideration of the amount of movement in the direction (pull amount), the number of transport steps during the idle transport can also be set. That is, in the idle feed conveyance, the number of conveyance steps during the idle feed conveyance is set so that the total of the movement amount of the tube 80 at the half cut and the movement amount at the idle feed conveyance becomes one dot line. You can also.

  For example, the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is moved by 0.2 dot lines at the first step, 0.3 dot lines at the second step, and 0. Assuming that the dot advances by 5 dot lines and advances by 1 dot line in total, when the tube 80 is pulled in the transfer direction by 0.5 dot lines during the half-cut process, “2” transfer steps are empty in the idle feed transfer. If it is fed and conveyed, it further moves 0.5 dot lines, and the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 moves 1 dot line from the dot line position printed before stopping. For this reason, when setting the number of transport steps for idle transport, it is only necessary to set “2” as the number of transport steps. Thereby, since the pulling amount of the tube 80 at the time of a half cut process can also be considered, character collapse can be prevented with higher accuracy. It should be noted that the pulling amount (movement amount) of the tube 80 at the time of the half cut processing is acquired in advance for each type and diameter of the tube 80.

  Also, when considering the amount of movement during half-cut processing, if the amount of movement of the tube 80 due to half-cut exceeds the 1 dot line, the number of conveyance steps during reverse conveyance is increased to relatively increase the amount during half-cut. It is possible to cope with this by reducing the amount of movement and controlling the total amount of movement of the tube 80, which is the sum of the amount of movement during half-cutting and the amount of movement during idle feeding, to be the amount of movement equivalent to one dot line. is there.

  For example, assuming the setting described above, if the amount of movement by the half-cut process is 2.5 dot lines, the number of conveyance steps at the time of reverse conveyance is increased, and the amount of movement by the half-cut process is relatively For example, control is performed so that the number of dot lines is 0.5. As a result, in the idle feed, if the idle feed is carried by “2” delivery steps, the dot moves further by 0.5 dot line, and the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 moves by 1 dot line from the dot line position printed before stopping. become. For this reason, when setting the number of transport steps for idle transport, it is only necessary to set “2” as the number of transport steps.

  When conveyance for a predetermined number of conveyance steps in the idle conveyance is completed (when the printing surface 80b advances by one dot line), the supply of pulses to the conveyance motor 34 is continued and the recording energy is applied to the thermal head 32. The process is resumed (FIG. 7E). Thereby, normal conveyance is resumed. Since the deflection of the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is eliminated by the pre-feed conveyance, one dot based on the print data next to the print data printed during the reverse conveyance is moved to a position advanced by one dot line from the previously printed dot line position. Can print lines. The amount of movement of the dot line for each step is not limited to the numerical value in the embodiment. In order to move the printing surface 80b by one dot line when resuming the conveyance of the tube 80 after half-cutting, It is appropriately set depending on the mechanical characteristics of the printing apparatus. In order to move corresponding to one dot line, reverse conveyance and pre-feed conveyance may be performed in combination. The number of conveyance steps required during reverse conveyance is the same as that of the pre-feed conveyance table TB in the ROM 72. It may be stored in various formats. Naturally, if the amount of movement of the dot line for each step is reduced, the number of steps is increased, but the accuracy of conveyance is improved.

[Operation example of printing device (flow chart)]
Next, an example of the operation of the printing apparatus 100 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the printing apparatus 100, and FIGS. 9A to 9J show dot line patterns printed at each step.

  As shown in FIG. 8, in step S10, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the tube 80 is at the cutting position. For example, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the tube 80 is at the cutting position based on whether or not the preset half-cut pitch length has been reached. The CPU 70 proceeds to step S50 when determining that the tube 80 is at the cut position, and proceeds to step S20 when determining that the tube 80 is not at the cut position.

  If it is determined that the tube 80 is not at the cut position, in step S20, the CPU 70 rotates the transport motor 34 forward by one transport step so that the tube 80 is transported by one dot line from the previous dot line position. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9A, the first dot line position for printing on the tube 80 is conveyed to the print position of the thermal head 32.

  In step S30, the CPU 70 prints the next one dot line. Specifically, the CPU 70 applies recording energy to the thermal head 32 to heat the ink ribbon 46, and as shown in FIG. 9A, the CPU 70 prints one dot line (first from the left) on the print surface 80b of the tube 80. (Dot line).

  In step S40, the CPU 70 determines whether all printing has been completed. If it is determined that printing of all print data (jobs) has been completed, a series of printing operations is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined that printing of all the print data has not been completed, the process returns to step S10 to determine again whether or not the tube 80 is at the cut position.

  If one dot line is printed in step S30 and the next one-step cycle is determined, and in step S10 it is determined that the cut position of the tube 80 is reached, the CPU 70 prints the next one dot line on the tube 80 in step S50. Printing is performed on the surface 80b. Subsequently, in step S60, the CPU 70 rotates the transport motor 34 backward by one step. Printing on the tube 80 and reverse rotation are performed at the same timing, for example, and printing is performed while the tube 80 is conveyed in reverse. Due to the reverse rotation of the transport motor 34, a force is instantaneously applied to the transported tube 80 in the stop direction. As a result, a stress that eliminates the repulsive force and bending acts on the tube, so that a dot line is formed at the second dot line position from the left of the tube 80 as shown in FIGS. 9B and 9C. Printed.

  In step S70, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the reverse rotation of the transport motor 34 is the first step. If the CPU 70 determines that the reverse rotation of the transport motor 34 is the first step, the CPU 70 proceeds to step S80. If the CPU 70 determines that the reverse rotation of the transport motor 34 is not the first step, the CPU 70 proceeds to step S90.

  If it is determined that it is the first step of reverse rotation, in step S80, the CPU 70 prints the same one dot line as the one dot line printed in the previous step. As a result, it is possible to reliably prevent printing omission.

  Subsequently, in step S90, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the reverse rotation is completed for a predetermined number of steps. This is because, in addition to the bending of the tube 80 itself described above, a force that pulls in the transport direction is generated even when the tube 80 described later is cut. Therefore, a predetermined transport step is performed according to the amount of movement of the tube 80 in the pull direction. This is because it is necessary to transport the tube 80 in the reverse direction by several minutes. Therefore, the number of transport steps is set to be different depending on the type of tube and the diameter of the tube.

  If it is determined that reverse rotation has been completed for a predetermined number of transport steps, the CPU 70 stops the transport motor 34 in step S100. Thereby, conveyance of the tube 80 in the reverse direction is also stopped. At this time, the printing position of the thermal head 32 is positioned between the first dot line and the second dot line of the tube 80 by reverse rotation of the transport motor 34, as shown in FIG. 9C.

  In step S <b> 110, the CPU 70 starts the cutter 52 by driving the cut motor 62. Thereby, the tube 80 is half cut. In step S120, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the half-cut processing of the tube 80 has been completed. If it is determined that the half cut processing of the tube 80 has been completed, the process proceeds to step S130. On the other hand, when it is determined that the half-cut process has not been completed, the cut process is continued until the half-cut of the tube 80 is completed.

  If it is determined that the half-cut process has been completed, the CPU 70 stops driving the cut motor 62 and stops the cutter 52 in step S130. At this time, as shown in FIG. 9D, the printing position of the thermal head 32 is positioned on the second dot line of the tube 80 because the tube 80 is pulled and moved by the half-cut process. .

  When the half-cut process is completed and the printing operation is resumed, the CPU 70 rotates the transport motor 34 forward by one step in step S140. Subsequently, in step S150, the CPU 70 determines whether or not the forward rotation for a predetermined number of steps set in advance is completed. This is because, as described above, the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 does not move in synchronization with the rotation amount of the platen roller 30 (the conveyance surface 80a of the tube 80) due to the bending of the tube 80 when the conveyance is resumed. For this reason, the transport motor 34 is moved to a predetermined amount until the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is moved by an amount equivalent to one dot line (FIG. 9G) from the one dot line position printed before the half-cut process (FIG. 9B). Rotate forward by the number of steps. Printing is not performed during the predetermined number of steps. By the movement of the predetermined number of transport steps, the print position of the thermal head 32 is on the third dot line from the second dot line of the tube 80 as shown in FIGS. 9 (E) to 9 (G). Located in. That is, the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is moved by an amount corresponding to one dot line from the previously printed dot line position by the predetermined number of steps in the idle feeding conveyance.

  The CPU 70 obtains the number of conveyance steps at the time of idle feeding by referring to the idle feeding conveyance table TB from the type and diameter of the tube 80 input by the user, and the number of pulses supplied to the conveyance motor 34 is obtained. It is determined whether or not the number of idle transport steps has been reached. When the CPU 70 determines that the forward rotation for the predetermined number of steps has been completed, the CPU 70 returns to step S30. In this step S30, the bending of the tube 80 at the time of resuming operation is eliminated, and the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 moves in synchronization with the conveying surface 80a. Therefore, the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 is moved from the previously printed dot line position. An amount equivalent to one dot line has moved. Therefore, it is possible to perform printing without losing characters (FIG. 9H). Even after one step period, the forward rotation of the transport motor 34 and the movement amount of the print surface 80b of the tube 80 are synchronized, so that the dot line advances exactly by the fourth dot of the tube 80. One dot line is printed at the line position (FIG. 9I). As a result, the print result finally obtained is an ideal print result without white spots and character collapse, as shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the conveyance of the tube 80 is resumed, the tube 80 is moved by one conveyance instead of the usual one conveyance step to move the printing surface 80b of the printing medium by one dot line. Move by the number of transport steps greater than the number of steps. As a result, the printing surface 80b of the tube 80 at the time of resuming the conveyance advances just one dot line from the dot line position printed before the conveyance is temporarily stopped, so that it is possible to prevent the printing collapse such that the dot line interval is clogged. As a result, high quality printing is possible.

  Further, according to the printing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, since the tube 80 is reversely conveyed by a predetermined number of conveyance steps before the half cut process, the conveyance of the tube 80 is stopped while suppressing the bending of the ink ribbon 46. It is possible to prevent white spots in printing that sometimes occur.

  It should be noted that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and includes those in which various modifications are made to the above-described embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention. In the above-described embodiment, the number of conveyance steps at the time of idle conveyance is set by inputting (selecting) the type and diameter of the tube 80 with the input unit 12, but is not limited to this. For example, a message that prompts the user to input the number of transport steps during the idle transport may be displayed on the screen of the display unit 14, and the user may directly input the number of transport steps using an operation button based on this message. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain the number of conveyance steps at the time of idle conveyance using a sensor. Specifically, the tube 80 is detected by a sensor and a detection signal is supplied to the CPU 70. In the CPU 70, the size (diameter) of the tube 80 is determined based on the detection signal supplied from the sensor, and from this determination result, for example, referring to a table in which the tube size and the number of transport steps are associated with each other, Acquire the number of transport steps according to the size of the tube. Further, the number of transport steps may be calculated based on a predetermined arithmetic expression. In addition, the sensor 76 mentioned above can also be used for a sensor.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing apparatus main body, 12 ... Input part, 30 ... Platen roller (conveyance part), 32 ... Thermal head (printing part), 50 ... Cutter (cutting part), 70 ... CPU (control unit), 80 ... tube (printing medium), 80b ... printing surface, 100 ... printing device, TB ... idle feed conveyance table

Claims (5)

A printing apparatus having a printing function for performing printing by temporarily stopping conveyance of the print medium during execution of printing on a long print medium, and then restarting conveyance of the print medium,
A transport unit for transporting the print medium;
A printing unit that prints dot lines based on print data on a printing surface of the printing medium conveyed by the conveyance unit;
A controller that controls the transport unit and the printing unit;
The controller, when resuming the conveyance of the print medium, after moving the print medium a predetermined number of conveyance steps so that the print surface of the print medium moves in the conveyance direction by an amount corresponding to one dot line, a Printout apparatus adapted to print the next print data of the print data printed before the pause in the printing surface of the printing medium,
A cutting unit for cutting the print medium provided on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the printing unit;
The control unit moves the print medium in the transport direction according to the amount of movement of the print medium in the transport direction that occurs when the print medium is cut by the cutting unit and the predetermined number of transport steps when transport of the print medium is resumed. The printing apparatus is characterized in that the print medium is moved by the predetermined number of conveyance steps so that the movement amount of the print medium combined with the movement amount is equivalent to the one dot line . The controller is
Before entering the process of cutting the print medium by the cutting unit,
The amount of movement of the print medium in the conveyance direction that occurs when the print medium is cut by the cutting unit and the amount of movement of the print medium that moves in the conveyance direction according to the number of conveyance steps when the conveyance of the print medium is resumed are combined. The print medium is transported in a direction opposite to the transport direction so that the travel amount is equal to the one dot line when the travel amount exceeds the one dot line. Item 2. The printing device according to Item 1 . The printing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein when the print medium is conveyed in a direction opposite to the conveyance direction, the print medium is moved by a predetermined number of conveyance steps. Printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising an input unit for setting the number of said conveying step by entering at least one of the type and size of the printing medium . A printing apparatus having a printing function for performing printing by temporarily stopping conveyance of the print medium during execution of printing on the print medium, and then restarting conveyance of the print medium,
A transport unit for transporting the print medium;
A printing unit that prints dot lines based on print data on a printing surface of the printing medium conveyed by the conveyance unit;
A cutting unit that is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction of the printing unit and cuts the printing medium;
A controller that controls the transport unit and the printing unit;
The control unit prints new print data on the print medium while transporting the print medium in a reverse direction corresponding to a deformation amount during transport before entering the cutting process by the cutting unit of the print medium, Thereafter, the conveyance of the printing medium is stopped and the printing medium is cut, and the printing surface of the printing medium is moved in the conveyance direction by one dot line when the conveyance of the printing medium is resumed thereafter. A printing apparatus configured to print on the printing surface of the printing medium the printing data next to the printing data printed before the stop after moving the printing medium by a predetermined number of conveyance steps ,
The control unit moves the print medium in the transport direction according to the amount of movement of the print medium in the transport direction that occurs when the print medium is cut by the cutting unit and the predetermined number of transport steps when transport of the print medium is resumed. The printing apparatus is characterized in that the print medium is moved by the predetermined number of conveyance steps so that the movement amount of the print medium combined with the movement amount is equivalent to the one dot line .