JPH02305683A - Thermally transferable color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the use efficiency of an ink ribbon and at the same time, prevent generation of missing of characters by providing a bar code zone for identification on the ink ribbon and also a printing head for rewriting a bar code and a transfer roller. CONSTITUTION:A control section 1 activates a ribbon motor 2 for driving a ribbon winding part, and an ink ribbon 3 is fed in an arrow T direction. In this case, if a bar code 4 on the ribbon 3 passes through a sensor 5 for identification of the bar code, the sensor 5 connects signals A1, B1, C1, D1, E1 corresponding to bar codes A, B, C, D, E to the control section 1. If the signals received by the section 1 are B1, C1, D1 and E1, the section 1 continues to feed the ribbon 3 without change. However, if a signal received is an unused black signal A1, the section 1 activates a bar code rewriting head 6 to transfer ink under an 'unused' code (e) part of the bar code A to a roller 7. Subsequently, the black bar code A for the unused ribbon 3 is rewritten as a 'used' bar code E1. Further, the section 1 activates a printing head 8 to print characters on paper 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a color thermal transfer printer, and more particularly to a color thermal transfer printer having a function of recognizing a ribbon in a portion once printed.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, ink ribbons in color thermal transfer printers of this type are formed with ink pigment zones and color identification codes.

FIGS. 3(a) and 3(5) are a state diagram of an ink ribbon and a diagram of an ink ribbon and a barcode, respectively, for explaining a conventional example.

As shown in FIGS. 3(a) and (6), the conventional ink ribbon has a plurality of dye zones C and barcodes d for identifying these dye zones on one ink ribbon 3, and any Overlapping printing is performed multiple times to print colors.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The conventional color thermal transfer printer described above has the disadvantage that a large amount of unused ink must be wasted and discarded because the unintended dye zone is idly fed and wound until the color required for printing appears. There is. Furthermore, when the used ink ribbon of a conventional color thermal transfer printer is used after being rewound or reversed, it is impossible to determine whether it can be used or not, so there is a drawback that printing omissions occur when printing on the used dye zone again.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a color thermal transfer printer that improves the efficiency of using such an ink ribbon and does not cause missing prints even when the ink ribbon is reused.

[Means to solve the problem]

The color thermal transfer printer of the present invention includes a color ribbon having a plurality of dye zones for performing multicolor printing and a barcode for identifying colors between the dye zones, and a sensor for recognizing the barcode. The thermal transfer printer is characterized in that a barcode zone for identifying unused or used ink ribbon is provided in the barcode portion of the ink ribbon, and a head and transfer roller for rewriting the barcode are provided.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of a color thermal transfer printer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment includes a ribbon motor 2 that winds up an ink ribbon 3, a print head 8 that transfers ink onto paper 9 and prints characters, and a barcode recognition sensor 5 that reads barcodes 4. , a barcode rewriting head 6 that transfers a part of the barcode onto a roller 7, and a control section 1 that controls these.

FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are a diagram of an unused ink ribbon and barcode and a diagram of a used ink ribbon and barcode used in FIG. 1, respectively. In addition, (a) figure,
(b) In both figures, electrical signals sent from the barcode recognition sensor to the control unit are shown as A1 to H1 below each.

As shown in FIG. 2(a), et al., pigment zone c,
f, such dye zone c, a color identification code d indicating the color of f, and an unused code e indicating that dye zone C is unused or a used code g indicating that dye zone f has been used. 8 types of barcodes A to H are combined into one set. Here, barcode 94
The color of the dye part C or f is indicated by the length of the black band and the white spot.

In addition, part e and gn indicate whether the dye part C or f is unused or used by the presence or absence of a black band.
Section e indicates that copy 0 is unused, and section g indicates that section f has been used.

The dye zones and barcodes of completely unused ink ribbon 3 are repeated in the order of A, B, C, D, and continue as shown in FIG. 3(a) described in the prior art example. In addition, the dye zones and barcodes of the partially used ink ribbon 3 are A or E, B or F, C or G,
D or H follows in order.

Next, consider the operation of such a color thermal transfer printer when printing in black.

First, the control section 1 operates the ribbon motor 2 that drives the ribbon winding section, and the ink ribbon 3 is sent in the six directions of the arrows. At this time, when the barcode 4 on the ink ribbon 3 passes through the barcode recognition sensor 5, the sensor 5 outputs signals A1, . B1. C1, Di or El
, Fl, Gl.

Hl is sent to the control section 1. Therefore, the control unit 1 receives the received signals as Bl, C1, Di, El, and Fl.

In the case of Gl and Hl, the ink ribbon 3 continues to be fed. However, the received signal is the unused black signal A1
Then, the control unit 1 operates the rad 6 to rewrite the barcode, transfers the ink of the unused code 0 part of the barcode A to the roller 7, and transfers the black barcode A of the unused ink ribbon 3 to the used ink. At the same time as rewriting the black part of the ribbon to barcode E, operate RAD 8 to print and write the characters on paper 9.
to be printed.

In this way, when the ink ribbon 3 is completely wound up by the ribbon motor 2, the ink ribbon 3 can be rewound and used again, and all the barcodes are A and B.

It can be used from C, D to E, F, G, H.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the color thermal transfer printer of the present invention, by rewriting the barcode of the code part of the ink ribbon that has been used once, it is possible to repeatedly use only the unused part of the ink ribbon, which is only partially used. Since it can be used for all ink ribbons, it has the effect of increasing the usage efficiency of expensive ink ribbons and lowering printing costs, which have been relatively high up until now.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the main parts of a color thermal transfer printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and (b) show an unused ink ribbon and a barcode used in FIG. FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are a state diagram of an ink ribbon and a diagram of a used ink ribbon and barcode, respectively, for explaining a conventional example. 1...Control unit, 2...Ribbon motor,
3... Ink phone, 4... Barcode, 5... Barcode recognition sensor, 6...
... Barcode rewriting head, 7 ... Roller, 8 ... Print head, 9 ... Paper, C
--- Ink pigment zone, d --- Color identification zone, e --- Unused code, f ---
Used ink pigment part, g...Used code, A
・・・・・・Unused ink ribbon black part barcode, B
・・・・・・Unused ink ribbon yellow part barcode, C
・・・・・・Unused ink ribbon red part barcode, D
・・・・・・Unused ink ribbon blue part barcode, E
・・・・・・Used ink ribbon black part barcode, F
...Used ink ribbon yellow section bar:]-1'
, G...Used ink ribbon red part barcode, H...Used ink ribbon blue part barcode, A1...Unused black signal, B1...・・・
Unused yellow signal, C1...Unused red signal, D
l...unused blue signal, El...used black signal, Fl...used yellow signal, Gl...
・・・-・・・Used red signal, Hl・・・・Used blue signal. Agent: Patent attorney Shinnozo Uchihara N? 1 to 0 DI-11110 "1!-11111 2nd flash

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer printer comprising: a color ribbon having a plurality of dye zones for performing multicolor printing; a color ribbon having a barcode for identifying colors between the dye zones; and a sensor for recognizing the barcode; A color thermal transfer printer characterized in that a barcode zone for identifying unused or used barcodes is provided in the barcode portion of the printer, and a head and a transfer roller for rewriting the barcode are provided.