JPH02274584A - Thermal transfer serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a processing time for a hard copy by a method wherein a printing action is conducted for one line with the feeding of an ink ribbon and, thereafter, while a line feed motor is driven to feed paper to a next print line position, the ink ribbon is fed to a position of the brightest color, i.e., yellow. CONSTITUTION:Paper 8 is set to a platen 7, and the action of a printer is started. From a host device, a specified color to be printed is indicated to the printer. The color indication is normally conducted in the order of increasing denseness of color. A ribbon motor 13 is driven, an ink ribbon 4 is fed, and a specified color is searched by a bar code sensor 11 in the order of increasing denseness of color. When a line feed instruction is transmitted from the host device after the completion of printing for one line, the ribbon motor 13 is driven simultaneously with a line feed action to feed the ink ribbon 4 to a position of the most dense color, i.e., yellow. Namely, since the specified color has been searched before the reception of the indication of the specified color from the host device, a processing time can be reduced by this period of time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type serial printer, and particularly to a non-impact type, that is, a thermal transfer type serial printer, in which a print pattern is formed by a dot matrix.

[Prior Art] Various printers are widely used as output devices in computer systems used in the information processing field. Among these, printers that use a printing method that expresses character patterns using a dot matrix have become rapidly popular in recent years because they are flexible and easy to adapt to.6 In particular, thermal transfer serial printers are easy to manufacture, generate little noise, and are inexpensive. Demand is expanding for personal use such as terminal systems and personal computers.

However, in such conventional thermal transfer serial printers, after printing one line while feeding the ink ribbon, the line feed motor is driven to feed the ink ribbon to the next print line position. When receiving an instruction for a designated color from a host device for printing on the next print line, the ribbon motor is driven to feed the ink ribbon, and the barcode sensor searches for the designated color.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Normally, color instructions are given in the order of lightest colors, but in conventional thermal transfer serial printers, the specified color is searched for after receiving the specified color instruction from the host device. The drawback was that it took a long time to process color prints and hard copies of color screens.

[Means for Solving the Problems] An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to provide a thermal transfer serial printer that supports faster color printing and hard copy processing on color screens. .

The present invention provides a thermal transfer serial printer having a thermal transfer print head and a ribbon cassette containing thermal transfer color ink ribbons each having an identifiable barcode. a carrier frame equipped with a print head, a holder supported by the carrier frame and equipped with a ribbon motor that feeds the ink cartridge with a ribbon cassette attached, and a holder that feeds or reverses the paper for printing. After the line feed motor and the ink ribbon are fed and the printing operation is performed for one line, the line feed motor is driven to feed the ink ribbon to the position of the next print line.
The present invention is characterized by having a control section that operates a ribbon motor to feed the ink ribbon to the position of the lightest color.

[Example] Hereinafter, a thermal transfer type serial printer according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the control system of an embodiment of the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention. It is a fi diagram.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an ink ribbon set in a ribbon cassette in an embodiment of the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention includes a sensor 11 that can recognize the barcode of an ink ribbon, a microswitch 12 that determines the type of ribbon cassette 3, A carrier frame (not shown) on which a print head 5 is mounted, a holder (not shown) supported by the carrier frame and having a ribbon motor 13 (not shown) equipped with a ribbon cassette 3 to feed an ink printer 4, and paper 8 for printing. After performing printing operation for one line while feeding the ink ribbon 4, the line feed motor 6 is driven to feed the ink ribbon 4 to the position of the next print line. The ink ribbon 4 is configured to include a control section 14 that operates a motor 13 to feed the ink ribbon 4 to the lightest color position.

The control unit 14 has a read-only memory 15 and a random access memory 16.

Next, the operation of the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 2, the paper 8 is set on the platen 7 and the printer starts operating.

An instruction for a specified color for printing is sent from the host device to the printer. Normally, color instructions are given in the order of lightest colors, but as shown in FIG. Search.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a typical ink ribbon used in the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention.

In the illustrated embodiment, the ink ribbon 4 has four colors: yellow, light blue, reddish-purple, and black. Therefore, the colors are designated in the order of yellow-light blue → reddish-purple-black.

When printing for one line is completed, the line feed motor 6 is activated for printing the next line, and at the same time the ribbon motor 13 is activated.
is activated, the barcode sensor 11 judges the color, and the barcode is fed to a position where yellow can be printed.

In other words, when a line feed instruction is sent from the host device after printing for - lines is completed, ribbon motor 1 is activated at the same time as the line feed operation.
3 to feed it to the position of the lightest color, that is, yellow in this embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the thermal transfer serial printer of the present invention, after printing one line while feeding the ink ribbon, the line feed motor is driven to start the next print line. Since it has a control unit that operates the ribbon motor to feed the ink ribbon to the position of the lightest color while feeding the ink ribbon to the position of the lightest color, it searches for the specified color before receiving an instruction for the specified color from the host device. This has the effect of shortening the processing time accordingly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a control system in an embodiment of a thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an ink ribbon set in a ribbon cassette in an embodiment of the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a typical ink ribbon used in the thermal transfer serial printer according to the present invention. 3... Ribbon cassette 4... Ink ribbon 5... Print head 6... Line feed motor 7... Platen 8...
・Paper 11 ・Barcode sensor 12 ・
... Micro switch 13 ... Ribbon motor 14 ... Control section

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A thermal transfer serial printer having a thermal transfer print head and a ribbon cassette storing a thermal transfer color ink ribbon having an identifiable barcode, comprising: a sensor capable of recognizing the barcode of the ink ribbon; and the ribbon cassette. a microswitch that determines the type of the ink ribbon; a carrier frame on which the print head is mounted; a holder that is supported by the carrier frame and has a ribbon motor that attaches the ribbon cassette and feeds the ink ribbon; a line feed motor that feeds or reverses the ink ribbon, and after performing a printing operation for one line while feeding the ink ribbon, driving the line feed motor to feed the ink ribbon to the next print line position; A thermal transfer serial printer, comprising: a control unit that operates to feed the ink ribbon to the position of the lightest color.