JPH03227272A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discharge a continuous printing medium automatically by a method wherein when the final end of a continuous printing medium is detected during printing, the printing motion is stopped, and the continuous printing medium is transferred and discharged by operating a transfer device and platen. CONSTITUTION:By a line feed control unit 18, a printing paper 5a is set at a printing start line position, and conforming to printing data to be inputted, a printing head 1a moves while operating by a printing head control unit 16 and space control unit 17, and by the line feed control unit 18, line feed is performed, and thus printing is conducted. When the printing papers 5a are getting less, and the rear end of the printing papers 5a is detected during printing by a sensor S, a detecting signal (a) is sent to a main control unit 15a, and the printing motion stops by commands which are sent to the printing head control unit 16 and space control unit 17. When the printing motion stops, a command is sent to the line feed control unit 18, a motor M rotates by a step number for feeding which corresponds with a distance from the position of the sensor S to a position which passes a holding roller 40, and the rear end of the printing paper 5a is discharged to the position which passes the holding roller 40 by operation of tractors 9a, 9b and platen 4a.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] A printer capable of transporting and ejecting the continuous print medium as soon as the printing of the page currently being printed is completed when the end of the continuous print medium is detected. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a printer that can automatically eject a continuous print medium without operator intervention when the printer reaches the end of the printing process, thereby saving labor and eliminating the waste of pages during printing. The printing medium includes a rotationally driven platen, a print head facing the platen, and a transport means that is driven in conjunction with the rotation of the platen and transports a continuous print medium together with the platen, and is transported and supplied between the platen and the print head. A printer that prints on a continuous print medium, which includes a detection means for detecting the end of the continuous print medium at a position before the platen where the continuous print medium is transferred, and a detection means for detecting the end of the continuous print medium during printing. The present invention is configured to include a control means for driving the feeding means and platen to transport and discharge the continuous print medium immediately or after the printing of the page being printed is completed when the continuous print medium is detected.

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to the use of a continuous print medium, in particular, when the end of the continuous print medium is detected, the continuous print medium is transported and discharged as soon as the page being printed is completed. It is about a printer that can.

When using continuous paper with a printer such as a wire tod printer, if the end of the continuous paper is detected, the printing operation will normally stop when the printing of that page is finished, and the continuous paper will be ejected by the operator's operation. Then, new continuous paper is set, but since it takes time and effort to eject this paper, there is a need for a method that automatically ejects the paper and prevents pages from being wasted during printing.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in the plan view of FIG. 6, the wire tod printer includes a print head 1a+ and a ribbon cassette 2 mounted on a carrier 3, and a continuous printing paper (hereinafter referred to as printing paper) 5a placed on a platen 4a. Ink ribbon 20 pulled out from ribbon cassette 2 on top of
are facing each other through.

The carrier 3 is slidably fitted into a guide shaft 6 arranged parallel to the platen 4a, and a feed screw 7 parallel to the platen 4a is similarly screwed into the feed screw 7 via a belt 8 or the like. The print head 1a is connected to a space motor M1, and the print head 1a is reciprocated in the directions of arrows A and B in the figure by forward and reverse rotation of the space motor M1. The print head 1a is equipped with a plurality of print magnets (not shown) for forming prints using dots.

Further, as shown in the main part side view of FIG. 7, a presser roller 40 is provided on the upper left side of the platen 4a, and presses the set printing paper 6a. Further, tractors 9a and 9b are provided behind the platen 4a, and a square shaft 10 and a guide shaft 11 are provided.
The square shaft 10 is connected to a motor M2 via a transmission mechanism such as a belt (not shown). Platen 4a
rotates in conjunction with the drive of the tractors 9a and 9b.

The tractors 9a and 9b are connected to feed holes 60 at both ends of the printing paper 5a.
The sprocket bells (12a, 12b) are moved by the drive of the square shaft 10 by the rotation of the motor M2, and the printing paper 5 is set.
a in the direction of arrow C. A paper guide 13 is provided between the tractors 9a, 9b and the platen 4a.

Further, a sensor S for detecting the presence or absence of the printing paper 5a is provided at a position close to the rear end of the tractors 9a, 9b.

With this configuration, when the printing paper 5a is set on the sprocket belts 12a, 12b and the set button on the operation panel (not shown) is pressed, the motor M2 rotates a predetermined number of steps and the printing paper 5a is moved in the direction of arrow C. The leading edge of the printing paper 5a comes to a position where it passes the platen 4a and the presser roller 40 and stops.

In response to the print command, the print head 1a prints on the print paper 5a while moving in the direction of arrow A together with the carrier 3. When printing for one line is completed, a new line is fed by driving the tractors 9a, 9b and the platen 4a.

Printing is performed in this way, but when the printing paper 5a is used and reduced in size and the trailing edge passes the sensor S and detection is canceled, the printing operation is immediately stopped and an out-of-paper alarm is displayed on the operation panel. The lamp lights up.

Then, when the operator presses the discharge instruction button on the operation panel, the tractors 9a, 9b and platen 4a are driven.
Motor M2 rotates by a predetermined number of steps to print paper 5a.
is transported and discharged.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

According to the conventional method described above, when it is detected that there is no printing paper, the operator presses the eject button to eject the printing paper due to the illumination of the out-of-printing paper alarm lamp, and the ejecting is done through the operator. It is time consuming, cumbersome to operate, and sometimes errors occur.

■Also, since the printing operation is stopped immediately, the printing of that page will be aborted, and the printing and printing paper for that page will be wasted, and when you set new printing paper and start printing, It is necessary to print again from the beginning.

There is a problem.

According to the present invention, when the continuous printing medium reaches its end, the continuous printing medium is automatically ejected without operator intervention, which saves time and effort, and also eliminates the waste of pages in the middle of printing. The purpose is to provide printers.

[Means to solve the problem]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is a print head, 4 is a platen, 5 is a continuous print medium, 9 is a transfer means, and 14 is a position where the continuous print medium 5 is transferred before the platen 4, and detects the end of the continuous print medium 5. A detection means 15 detects when the end of the continuous print medium 5 is detected by the detection means 14 during printing by the print head 1.
and a control means for driving the platen 4 to transport and discharge the continuous print medium 5.

Therefore, when the end of the continuous print medium 5 is detected during printing, the continuous print medium 5 is automatically discharged.

[Effect]

When the end of the continuous print medium 5 is detected by the detection means 14 during printing, the printing operation is stopped, and the transfer means 9 and the platen 4 are driven under the control of the control means 15 to remove the continuous print medium 5.
is transported and discharged.

In this way, by detecting the end of the continuous print medium 5, the continuous print medium 5 is automatically discharged without operator intervention, which saves time, eliminates troublesome operations, and eliminates operational errors.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. The same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the figures.

Printing paper 5a, tractors 9a, 9b + sensor S in Fig. 2
And the main control unit 15a controls the continuous printing medium 5. of FIG. Transport means9. They correspond to the detection means 14 and the control means 15, respectively.

In the block diagram of FIG. 2, the main control section 15a controls each section based on the input printing data to perform the printing operation.The sensor S detects the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a (detection of no printing paper). This commands the print head control section 16 and space control section 17 to stop the printing operation, and instructs the line feed control section 18 to rotate the motor n2 to start the tractor 9.
g, 9b and the platen 4a to eject the printing paper 5a.

The print head control section 16 drives the print head 1a to perform printing according to a command from the main control section 15a.

The space control unit 17, in response to instructions from the main control unit 15a,
The space motor 1 is rotated to control the feed of the print head 1a.

The line feed control unit 18 rotates the motor M2 and drives the tractors 9a, 9b and platen 4a to set the print start line position, line feed feed, and ejection feed of the printing paper 1a in response to a command from the main control unit 15a. Control.

Further, 19 indicates an operation panel.

Since it has such a configuration and function, the operation will be explained next with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

■First, by operating a print command on the operation panel 19, the line feed control unit 18 sets the print paper 5a to the printing start line position, and the print head control unit 16 and space control unit 17 control the print head based on the input print data. 1a
moves while being driven, and a line feed is performed by the line feed control section 18 to perform printing.

■When the printing paper 5a decreases and the rear end of the printing paper 5a is detected by the sensor S during printing, the detection signal a is sent to the main control unit 1.
5a, a command is issued to the print head control section 16 and space control section 17, and the printing operation is stopped.

- When the printing operation stops, a command is issued to the line feed control unit 18, and the motor M2 rotates by the number of feed steps corresponding to the distance from the position of the sensor S to the position passing the presser roller 40, and the tractor 9a, 9b and the platen 4a are driven to eject the printing paper 5a to a position where the rear end of the printing paper 5a passes the presser roller 40.

A different embodiment is shown in the block diagram of FIG.
The difference between FIG. 4 and the embodiment explained in FIG. 2 is that in the embodiment, when the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a is detected by the sensor S,
In contrast to the method of immediately stopping the printing operation and ejecting the printing paper 5a, by adopting a method of ejecting the printing paper 5a after the printing of the page currently being printed is completed, the printing of the page currently being printed and the printing paper 5a are wasted. can be prevented from becoming.

In the figure, the main control section 15b differs from the main control section 15a described in the embodiment in three functions.

That is, the ejection command signal S is stored in the ejection command memory 20 based on the detection signal a sent from the sensor S, and the ejection command signal S is read out from the ejection command memory 20 when printing of the page being printed is completed. and sends it to the print head control section 16 and space control section 17 to stop the printing operation, and instructs the line feed control section 18 to perform a predetermined step of feeding corresponding to the position where the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a passes the platen 4a. The motor M2 is rotated by the number of times the printing paper 5a is discharged.

Since it has such a configuration and function, the operation will be explained next with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, the flow from the time when the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a during printing will be explained.

(2) When the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a during printing, a detection signal a is sent to the main control section 15b.

(2) The main control section 15b stores the discharge command signal in the discharge command memory 20 in response to the detection signal a.

■The printing operation continues, and when the printing of that page is completed, the main control section 15b reads out the ejection command signal from the ejection command memory 20, sends it to the print head control section 16 and the space control section 17, and stops the printing operation. .

(2) Also, a command is given to the line feed control section 18 to rotate the motors by a predetermined number of steps until the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a passes the platen 4a, thereby ejecting the printing paper 5a.

In this way, when the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a, the printing paper 5a can be automatically ejected, so there is no need for the operator to operate the operation panel.
It saves time and effort. Further, in a different embodiment, the printing paper 5a is carried out after printing to the end of the page being printed, so that it is possible to prevent printing and waste of the printing paper 1a.

In the above example, when the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the printing paper 5a during printing, the printing paper 5a is automatically ejected immediately or after the page being printed is finished. Use the operation panel 19 to determine whether or not to perform the ejection operation.
It is also possible to specify a method to switch from one to the other. Furthermore, although the case of a wire tod printer has been described, the invention can generally be applied to printers that use continuous printing paper.

In addition, although the case where the tractors 9a and 9b are push-in platens located in front of the platen 4a has been described, the tractors 9a and 9b are
The same can be applied to the case where b is a tension platen located after the platen 4a.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, when the detection means detects the end of the continuous print medium, the continuous print medium can be automatically ejected. This reduces the time required to eject continuous print media and prevents operational errors.

(2) Furthermore, in the case of the invention as claimed in claim 2, since the paper is ejected after the printing of the page being printed is completed, printing of that page and waste of continuous printing paper can be avoided.

There is an effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the embodiment, Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing a different embodiment, and Fig. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the invention. Flowcharts of different embodiments, FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an outline of a wire printer to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 7 is a side view of the main part of FIG. 6. In the figure, 1.1a is a print head, 4 and 4a are platens, 6 is a continuous print medium, board a is printing paper, 9 is a transport means,
9a and 9b are tractors, 14 is a detection means,
15 is a control means, 15a and 15b are main control units, and S is a sensor. The principle of Dobukiworo, l! , 8m No. feri

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A platen (4) that is driven to rotate, a print head (1) that faces the platen (4), and a print head (1) that is driven in conjunction with the rotation of the platen (4).
) and transport means (9) for transporting the continuous printing medium (5).
and a continuous print medium (5) transferred to the platen (4) and the transfer means (9) and fed between the platen (4) and the print head (1). )
A printer that performs printing, comprising: a detection means (14) for detecting the end of the continuous print medium (5) at a position before the platen (4) where the continuous print medium (5) is transferred; The detection means (14) during printing by the head (1)
When the end of the continuous print medium (5) is detected by
control means (1) for driving the transport means (9) and the platen (4) to transport and discharge the continuous print medium (1);
5) A printer comprising: 2) The detection means (14) is provided at a position in front of the position of the platen (4) by the length of the continuous print medium (5) on which at least one page is printed, and the detection means (14) is provided at a position in front of the position of the platen (4) by the length of the continuous print medium (5) on which at least one page is printed. The continuous printing medium (5) is detected by the detection means (14).
2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein when the end of the continuous print medium (5) is detected, the continuous print medium (5) is transferred and ejected after printing of the remaining pages of the page being printed is completed.