JPH0381181A - Color ink ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce not only the wasteful feed of a color ink ribbon but also running cost by setting the length of each of the colors of the color ink ribbon so as to make the same shorter than the max. printing width of an apparatus. CONSTITUTION:Three colors of yellow 2a, magenta 2b and cyan 2c or four colors of those colors 2a, 2b, 2c and black 2d are arranged to a color ink ribbon 1 in order. At first, printing is performed using the yellow 2a. When the printing of one line is completed, next, printing is performed in the order of the magenta 2b, the cyan 2c and the black 2d and, by the next yellow 2e, the printing of the next line is performed. However, when the printing of one line is not completed using the yellow 2a, the printing is performed using the magenta 2b, the cyan 2c and the black 2d and the remaining printing is performed using the yellow 2e. When it is supposed that the printing of 60 characters is performed by a printer capable of printing 136 characters at the max. using an ink ribbon having a length corresponding to 136 characters or more, the ink ribbon is fed wastefully by 76 characters but, when an ink ribbon having a length corresponding to 80 characters is used, wasteful feed is limited to 20 characters. Further, when an ink ribbon having a length corresponding to 70 characters, wasteful feed is reduced to the quantity corresponding to 10 characters.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer color serial printer device, and more particularly to the structure of a color ink ribbon.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of printer device, the color ink ribbon has three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan, or four colors including black, arranged in order as shown in Figure 1. The length was set longer than the maximum printing width of the device, and each line was printed using a combination of three or four colors.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The color ink ribbon mentioned above is set so that the length of each color is longer than the maximum printing width of the device, so when printing is not done to the full maximum printing width as in actual printing, only a part of the ribbon is used. However, the remaining ribbon is unnecessarily fed, resulting in high running costs.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the color ink ribbon of the present invention, the length of each color is set shorter than the maximum printing width of the device.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a color ink ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Color ink ribbon 1 has yellow 2a, magenta 2b,
It has a structure in which four colors including three colors of cyan 2C or black 2d are arranged in order.

First, print in yellow 2a. When printing of the - line is completed, magenta 2b and cyan 2c are printed next.

Printing is performed in the order of black 2d, and in the next yellow 2e, the next line is printed. However, if one line of printing is not completed with yellow 2a, magenta 2b and cyan 2c are printed.
, Black 2d is printed, and the remaining printing is Yellow 2.
Do it with e. If you use a printer that can print up to 136 characters and use an ink ribbon with a length of 136 characters or more to print 60 characters, 76 characters will be sent in vain, but 80 characters will be sent in vain. If you use an ink ribbon with a length of , the unnecessary feed will only be 20 characters.

Furthermore, if the length is 70 characters, the unnecessary feed will only be 10 characters.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of an apparatus using the ink ribbon of the present invention.

The print control circuit 11 controls the printing system, and the counter 12 counts the number of printed dots.The ribbon motor drive circuit 13 is composed of transistors, etc., and the ribbon motor 14 is a step motor.

Such as a DC motor.

First, when printing is started, the print control section 11 applies a pulse voltage or step voltage to the ribbon motor drive circuit 13. The ribbon drive circuit 13 rotates the ribbon motor 14 using the pulse voltage or step voltage. At this time, the dot counter 12 counts the number of pulses or the application time of the step voltage, and sends a signal to the print control section 11 when a preset value is reached depending on the length of the ink ribbon.

When the print control unit 11 receives the signal, it stops printing, rotates the ribbon motor 14 to the starting position of the next color, and feeds the ink ribbon in a blank manner.

Another possible method is to perform color identification instead of using the dot counter 12, stop printing when the color changes, and move on to the next color.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention has the effect of reducing wasteful feeding of the ink ribbon and reducing running costs by setting the length of each color of the color ink ribbon to be shorter than the maximum printing width of the apparatus.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of an ink ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram when the ink ribbon of FIG. 1 is used. l...Color ink ribbon, 2a...Yellow, 2
b...magenta, 2c...cyan, 2d...black, 2e...yellow, 11...print control circuit,
12... Dot counter, 13... Ribbon drive circuit, 14... Ribbon motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a thermal transfer color serial printer device, three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan or four colors of ink including black are arranged in order, and the length of each color is set to be shorter than the maximum printing width of the device. Color ink ribbon.