JPH02286263A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To print characters at constant density regardless of the ink color of an ink ribbon by detecting whether the ink ribbon is transparent to identify its type and controlling the electrification of a thermal head in accordance with the type. CONSTITUTION:Ink ribbons are discriminated by the presence of a hold provided previously at positions corresponding to switches 11,12 for ribbon cassettes. If the ribbon is monochromatic, a stepping motor 19 for winding the ribbon is driven, and the ribbon is introduced into an area between the light-emitting part 5 and the light-receiving part 6 of a photocoupler 3. Then it is determined whether the ink ribbon is transparent by detecting the ability of the light- receiving part 6 to receive light from the light emitting part 5. After this, a value for identification of the type of the ink ribbon is stored in RAM 30. Various kinds of data are supplied to CPU 23 in accordance with a detection signal entered from RAM 30. Thus the electrification of a thermal head 20 is controlled through a thermal head drive circuit 27.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to thermal transfer printers, and more particularly to thermal transfer printers that use a plurality of different ink ribbons.

In a thermal transfer printer, an ink film made of poly-I stellate or other film coated with heat-melting ink is layered so that the ink side faces the recording paper, and the heat from the thermal head melts the ink on the ink film and prints it on the recording paper. It is to be transcribed into.

Some small thermal transfer printers have an ink film in the form of a ribbon and are stored in a cassette to facilitate the replacement of the ink ribbon.

The ribbon cassette that stores the ink ribbons is not only a single color monochrome ink ribbon (hereinafter referred to as "Nanakuro Ribbon"), but also four colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan, and hot (three colors excluding black) for color printing. Ink ribbons (lower IX, referred to as 4-color color ribbons) or medium-color ribbons (for example, red, blue, and green) are made by repeatedly applying ink over a fixed length.

There was one that housed an ink ribbon coated with only gold, silver, etc. ink (called monochromatic color ribbon after JX).

Conventional technology Conventional thermal transfer printers distinguish the type of monochrome ribbon, four-color ribbon, and single-color ribbon based on the structure of the cassette that stores and covers the ink ribbon, and print according to the type of ink ribbon. was. At this time, when a monochromatic color ribbon is used, data is printed with the same energy to obtain the same density regardless of the color, such as red, blue, green, gold, or silver.

Problems that the invention aims to solve However, gold and silver single color ribbons are gold.

Metal powders such as bronze and aluminum are used as colorants for silver, and even though it requires more energy to achieve the same density as other inks such as red, evening, and green, Conventional thermal transfer printers apply only the same energy at the same -11 degrees to all single color ribbons, so the same -11 degrees are applied to all single color ribbons.
Even if an attempt was made to print with a black ribbon, there were problems such as the density of single color ribbons having a large heat capacity such as gold and silver being thinner than other single color ribbons.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that can print at a constant density regardless of the color of ink on an ink ribbon.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a thermal transfer printer in which heat is applied to an ink ribbon coated with ink that melts by heat using a thermal head to melt the ink and transfer the ink to recording paper. A detection means for detecting the pressure of whether or not it passes through, and a detection means for detecting whether the pressure is transmitted or not, and
and a control stage for controlling the thermal head so that the energy applied to the ink ribbon that does not transmit light is greater than that of the ink ribbon that transmits light.

The type of ink ribbon is determined by detecting whether the ink ribbon is transparent or opaque using a detection means, and a constant density is obtained with the same density data using an lIJw means even if the color of the ink ribbon differs depending on the type of ink ribbon. Communication to the thermal head so that it can fff! II
Do m. Therefore, a constant density can be obtained for data for obtaining the same density regardless of the type of ink ribbon.

Example FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

In the figure, 1 indicates a detection means, and 2 indicates a control means.

The detection means 1 is composed of a photocoupler 3 and a light emission/light reception circuit 4 (controlling light emission and light reception of the photocoupler 6),
The ink ribbon 7 is inserted between the light emitting part 5 and the light receiving part 6 of the photocoupler 3 and detecting whether or not the light from the light emitting part 5 can be received by the light receiving part 1liIs6.
Detects whether or not it transmits light.

As shown in FIG. 4, a photocoupler 3 serving as the detection means 1 is provided to protrude from a carriage 9 on which a ribbon cassette 8 containing an ink cylinder is placed. A hole 10 is provided in the ribbon cassette 8 at a position corresponding to the photocoupler 3, and a hole 10 is provided at a position corresponding to the photocoupler 3.
is inserted into the ribbon cassette 8. The ink ribbon is a photocoupler 3 inserted into the ribbon cassette 8 when the ribbon cassette 8 is transferred to the carriage 9.
It has a path that passes between the light emitting section 5 and the light receiving section 6.

In addition to the photocoupler 3, the carriage 9 also has various types of ribbon cassettes 8 (monochrome ribbon, four-color ribbon,
11. Switch for identifying single color ribbon, etc.).
12 protrude, and the type of ribbon cassette 8 is determined by turning on and off the two switches 11.12 depending on the presence or absence of holes 113.14 in the ribbon cassette 8 at positions corresponding to these switches 11.12.

The carriage 9 is also provided with a supply core 16 that fits with the supply reel 15 and a take-up core 18 that fits with a take-up reel 17 that takes up the ink ribbon 7 and rotates the take-up reel 17. There is.

The winding core 18 is coupled to a step motor 19 via a gear or the like, and rotates in accordance with the rotation of the step motor 19. The step motor 19 rotates in the forward direction A1 to mesh with the gear that rotates the winding core 18 and winds up the ink ribbon 7, and rotates in the reverse direction Δ2 to rotate the thermal head 20. The position of the thermal head 20 is controlled by engaging with a cam that controls the pressing of the thermal head 20 onto the platen 21 .

Further, the carriage 9 is coupled to a step motor 22 via a timing belt or the like, and moves in the direction of arrow X.

In FIG. 1, print data is supplied to a medium heat processing device ff (CPLJ) 23 via an interface 24, and a signal for determining the type of ribbon tape and a thermal head 20 are supplied by a switch 11, 12 and a photocoupler 3. In order to detect the position of the thermal head 20, a signal from the position detection device "a28" is supplied.The position detection device station 28 attaches a reflector to a cam etc. connected to the step motor 19 in order to move the thermal head 20 toward the platen 21. The position of the °-maru head is detected by receiving the light from the light emitting element by the light receiving element A and detecting the rotation angle of the cam.

In addition, CPtJ23 has random access memory (
RAM) 30 and read-only memory (ROM) 2
9 supplies input data and detection (various $1 JW data depending on number n).

The CPtJ23 operates a step motor 19. which controls the valleying of the ink ribbon 7 and the pressing of the thermal head 20 to the platen 21 via motor drive circuits 25.26 based on these control data. The step motor 22 that moves the carriage 9 in the direction of the arrow X''h is turned on at lQtm, and the energization of the thermal head 20 is controlled via the thermal head drive circuit 27.

Next, the ink ribbon discrimination operation will be explained with reference to FIG. First, when the thermal transfer printer main body is powered on or the ribbon cassette is replaced, the ink ribbon is determined (step 32).

The ink ribbon is first determined by checking the states of the switches 11 and 12.

The ribbon cassette in which the monochrome ribbon 31a is stored does not have holes at the positions corresponding to the switches 11 and 12, as shown in FIG. The ribbon cassette in which the ribbon 31b is stored is provided with a hole 13 at a position corresponding to the switch 11, as shown in FIG.
As shown in Figure (C), a hole 14 is provided at a position lr corresponding to the switch 12.

Therefore, the states of switches 11 and 12 are as shown in Table 1.
The CPU 23 determines the ink ribbon according to the truth table (steps 33 and 34>).

Table 1 Here, if it is determined that the ribbon cassette is other than the monochromatic color ribbon 31c, a value corresponding to the type of ink ribbon is set in the RAM 30. For example, in legal paper mode, 0. If it is a monochrome ribbon 31a, set it to 1. If it is a four-color ribbon 31b, set it to 2 (step 35).

When the ink ribbon 31c is a single color ribbon, the ribbon winding step motor 19 is driven to feed the ink ribbon idly (step 36). Here, first, counters that output values corresponding to transparent parts and opaque parts are reset (step 37).

Next, the photocoupler 3, which is the detection means 1, determines whether the ink ribbon is transparent or opaque (steps 38 and 39).
).

If the ink ribbon is transparent, check whether the output of the counter that outputs a value corresponding to the length of the opaque part is equal to the value a corresponding to the length of the ribbon end markers provided at both ends of the ink ribbon. Check (step 40). However, here, naturally, the counter output corresponding to the length of the opaque portion is 0. Therefore, the ink ribbon is continuously fed until the output of the transparent counter reaches the value 2 corresponding to the predetermined quality (steps 38.39, 41.42). In this case, it is sure that 2>a, for example, ll-2aPi! Keep it at a temperature.

If the transparent parts continue until the output of the transparent counter becomes 2, red and green of the monochromatic color ribbon are displayed.

Since the ribbon is found to be transparent, such as blue, a value representing the type of ink ribbon, for example 4, is set in the RAM 30 (step 43).

Next, when checking whether the ink ribbon is transparent or opaque (steps 38 and 39), if the ink ribbon is opaque, a check is made to see if the transparency counter, which outputs a value according to the length of the transparent part, is 0. 44). Naturally, the transparent counter is 0 here.

Next, the ink ribbon is continuously fed until it reaches a value corresponding to the predetermined length of the opaque area (steps 38, 39, 44, 4).
5.46). If the opacity continues until the output of the opacity counter reaches 2, it is gold.

It turns out that the ribbon is an opaque monochromatic color ribbon such as opaque silver, and in this case, the value 3 for determining the type of ink ribbon is set in RAM 3-0 (step 4).
7).

In the case of the end tape portion, the transparent portion and the opaque portion are repeated at a relatively short period, so the transparent portion changes from the transparent portion to the opaque portion or from the opaque portion to the transparent portion before the output of the transparent counter or the opaque counter reaches this point. Therefore, when the transparent portion changes to the opaque portion, the transparent counter output is not O in step 44, so the transparent counter and the opaque counter are reset (step 48). therefore,
The blank feed continues and the area changes to a transparent area again. Since the output of the opaque counter is now a, it is determined in step 40 that the ribbon is at the end, and a ribbon 1 end flag is set in the RAM 30 (step 49).

When changing from an opaque area to a transparent area, since the opaque counter output is less than 8 in step 44, idle feeding is continued and the area becomes opaque again. .

After it becomes an opaque part, it is determined that it is a ribbon end using the same procedure as when changing from a transparent part to an opaque part. The type of ink ribbon can be determined by the above procedure. With this, the determination operation ends (step 50-).

Next, the printing operation will be explained with reference to FIG.

When the type of ink ribbon is determined, the print data is sent to the CPU 23 via the interface 24 (up 51).

First, a value set according to the set ink ribbon is read from the RAM 30, and an optimum energization time for the type of ribbon is set in the CPU 23 from the ROM 29 according to this value (step 52). Next, move the step motor 19 to A2
The thermal head 20 is rotated in the direction 7J to lower the thermal head 20 and press it against the platen 21 (step 53). Furthermore, the step motor 19 is rotated in the Δ1 direction to start winding up the ink ribbon (step 54). Next, drive the step motor 22 to move the carriage 9 by arrow X7J
(step 55). thermal head 20
When the mark 7 reaches the printing position, the thermal head 20 starts to be energized, and when the mark 7 ends, the step motor 22 is turned on.
Then, the step motor 19 is stopped to stop winding the ink ribbon (step 6o).

Next, the thermal head 20 is separated from the platen 21 to complete printing (steps 61 and 62).

In this way, a photocoupler is used to detect the ribbon end of a monochromatic color ink ribbon containing metal powder such as gold or silver, and a transparent monochrome color ribbon such as red, blue, or B to determine whether the ink ribbon is transparent or opaque. It is detected by 3. As a result of the detection, in the case of opaque monochromatic color ribbons such as gold and silver, the time for energizing the thermal head 20 is made longer than that of transparent ink ribbons, so that there is no density difference for the same density data of both ink ribbons. I have to.

In addition, since it is also used as the photocoupler 3 for detecting the ribbon end, there is no need to increase the number of detection means, and
Since the shape of the ribbon cassette can remain the same, it can be realized at low cost.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, by detecting whether the ink ribbon is transparent or opaque using the detection means, it is possible to detect the types of ink ribbons that require different applied energy to obtain the same 311ff even among monochromatic color ribbons. In order to make the print density constant according to the discrimination result with respect to the data for obtaining the same density,
It has patents such as being able to obtain approximately constant printing density based on data for obtaining the same density regardless of the color of the monochromatic color ribbon.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG.
The figure is a flowchart for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of a ribbon cassette. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Detection means, 2... Control means, 3... Photocoupler, 7... Ink ribbon, 8... Ribbon cassette. Patent Applicant: Epson Co., Ltd. G-Eco Co., Ltd. Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a thermal transfer printer that applies heat to an ink ribbon coated with heat-meltable ink using a thermal head to melt the ink and transfer it to recording paper, the ink ribbon transmits light. a detection means for detecting whether or not the light is transmitted; and a detection means for detecting whether or not the light is transmitted; A thermal transfer printer comprising: a control means for controlling the thermal head so that the print density is the same with the ink ribbon that does not transmit light.