JPH04140181A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deterioration of printing grade by mounting a means removing the dust on a recording medium to a printer main body. CONSTITUTION:A pair of left and right drive wheels 11, a pair of the motors 19 being the drive sources of the respective drive wheels 11, a pair of gear trains 20 transmitting power, a pair of auxiliary spheres 12, an ink build-in type printing head (ink jet type recording means) 13, a chargeable power supply 14 being a power source, the charging connector 15 of the power supply 14, an electric substrate 16, a dust removing means 17 and a recording medium detection means 18 are provided in a main body. The dust removing means 17 is arranged on this side of the printing head 13 with respect to a printing direction to lightly bring a dust removing roller 117 being a cylindrical member into contact with a recording medium 23 under pressure and the roller 171 tumbles on the recording medium 23 in the direction shown by an arrow with the movement of the main body to bond the medium to gather the same. The dust on the roller 171 is scraped off by the blade 172 being in contact with the dust removing roller 171 under pressure to be received in a dust receiving part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer in which the printer body moves manually or self-propelled over a recording medium.

[Conventional technology]

A so-called handy printer, which prints data output from a word processor or host computer onto a recording medium without using a paper transport means, prints by manual scanning, and the operation equivalent to the changeover operation of a general serial printer is as follows. This was done by holding the printer in your hand and moving it around.

A feature of this type of printer is that it can print on thick paper, notebooks, etc., or other recording media of paper width, where no conveyance means is available, and this is where the effectiveness of hand-held manual scanning printing as described above lies.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, in the case of a normal printer using a recording medium conveying means, means for removing dust, such as paper powder and dust, adhering to the recording medium is provided in the conveying means. By doing so, the recording medium can be easily brought into a state suitable for printing.

However, when printing is performed using the above-mentioned conventional manual scanning hand-held printer, the user has to remove dust on the recording medium before printing. If you print without removing the dust as described above, the print quality may deteriorate significantly due to the dust, or the dust may adhere to the ink ejection surface of the print head, making it impossible to print. There is a problem with putting it away.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems and to realize high-quality printing by removing dust on a recording medium in a printer in which the printer body moves over the recording medium.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the printer of the present invention is a printer in which a printer body including a recording means moves on a recording medium, in which the printer has the above-mentioned recording device installed at a position near the recording means. The present invention is characterized by comprising a dust removing means for taking in and removing dust on the recording medium.

[Function] The printer of the present invention is equipped with a dust removal means for removing dust on the recording medium in the printer body, thereby avoiding the influence of dust on the recording medium and preventing deterioration of print quality. Also, if the recording means is an inkjet print head, this prevents the inability to eject.

[Example〕 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

First, the appearance of the printer, which is the first embodiment of the present invention, will be explained as follows.
The main longitudinal section is shown in FIG. 2, and the main cross section is shown in FIG. 3. This embodiment is an example of application to a self-propelled printer in which the printer main body is self-propelled on a self-recording medium.

The outer periphery of the main body 1 includes a display 2 for inputting images and displaying various states of the main body, and a slot 3 into which a storage medium is inserted to read print data from a storage medium such as a memory card 4 or to write data thereto.
, a disk drive 5 that reads and writes print data from a magnetic recording medium 6, a switch group 7 that gives various instructions to the main body 1, a speaker/microphone section 8 that has voice input and alarm functions, and a state expression using light emitting elements such as LEDs. There is a light emitting unit 9 that performs the operation, and an antenna 10 that controls the transmission and reception of commands from a host computer and the like.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inside of the main body includes a pair of left and right drive wheels 11, a pair of motors 19 that are the drive source for each drive wheel 11, a pair of gear trains 20 that transmit power,
A pair of auxiliary methods 12, a print head with built-in ink (inkjet recording means) 13, a rechargeable power source 14 as a power source, a charging connector 15 for the power source 14, an electric board, a dust removal means 17, and A recording medium detection means 18 and the like are provided.

On the electric board 16, a data conversion section 51, a head drive section 52, a data storage section 53 as shown in FIG. 16, a printer travel control means 60 as shown in FIG. 17, etc. are constructed.

The configuration of each of these components will be explained below along with their operations.

(Inputting data for printing) The first method of importing data for printing from outside is
There is an input method from a memory card 4 and a magnetic recording medium 6 as shown in the figure. Such data input is performed by inserting the memory card 4 or magnetic recording medium 6, which stores print data created by a host computer or word processor, into the slot 3 in the main body 1 or setting it in the disk drive 5. be exposed.

Another method of inputting data for printing is to receive data created on a computer or the like using a communication means such as a transmitter using an antenna lO.In this case, it is possible to not only input and output data for printing, Just as the computer controls a normal serial printer, it can also be used for inputting and outputting control data for remotely controlling the printing operation of the main body 1.

Furthermore, any image can be input from the display 2 on the top surface of the main body 1. This is because the surface of the display 2 is a digitizer, which reads the coordinates of the input image on the display as shown in Figure 14, divides this coordinate data into raster directions, and treats it as print data. It is from.

The printing data input by each of the above methods is the 16th
As shown in the figure, the data conversion section 51 on the electric board 16 converts the data into print data, and based on the print data, the head drive section 52 on the electric board 16 drives the print head 1.
By driving 3, printing is performed on the recording medium 23.

Further, the input printing data can be stored in the data storage section 53 (see FIG. 16) on the electric board 16, so that the same printing data can be repeatedly printed.

(Straight motion) The printing operation is performed together with the straight motion of the main body 1, and the straight motion is performed by the pair of left and right drive wheels 1 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
This is done by one rotation. The pair of front and rear auxiliary wheels 12 work together with the driving wheels 11 to maintain the posture of the main body 1, and are driven without having any driving force.

The drive wheel 11 has a non-slip rubber belt around its outer periphery, and is driven by the drive force of a pair of motors 19 being transmitted by a gear train 20 . Note that the drive system for the drive wheels 11 is not specified, and for example, a drive method using a belt or a direct drive system in which the drive wheels 11 and the motor 19 are coaxially connected may be used.

Two motors 19 are used to move the main body l straight during printing operation.
This is done by rotating the left and right drive wheels 11 in the same direction while rotating them in opposite directions. FIG. 4 shows the positional relationship between the main body and the recording medium 23 during printing operation. The starting point A is, in principle, located outside the recording medium 23 and is the starting point for the movement of the five bodies. After the main body 1 starts moving from point A and reaches the recording medium 23, it drives the print head 13 based on print data to perform printing. When printing for one line is completed, the main body 1 is retracted to the outside of the recording medium 23 (point B).

Such control of the straight-ahead movement is performed by the straight-ahead control section 60A of the travel control means 60 of the printer shown in FIG. This will be performed by the correction control section 60B.

The next action after the straight-ahead action up to this point is a changeover action.

(Returning action) As the first step in the reversing action, the main body 1 rotates 90° clockwise on point B. The state of the drive wheels 11 at this time is shown in FIG. In this operation, the two motors 19 rotate in the same direction, and the two drive wheels 19 rotate in the arrow directions on their sides in FIG. The main body 1 is rotated 90° clockwise around point E.

Next, as the second step, the printer moves straight ahead again from point B in Figure 5, and then
76 inches) to reach the 0 point. In the next third step, it is rotated 90° clockwise in the same manner as described above. This completes the series of operations. After that, a straight movement and a printing operation are performed to reach point D.

Thereafter, by repeating the same operation, the distribution medium 23
Print multiple lines on top.

Control of such a line feed operation is performed by a line feed control unit 60c shown in FIG. 17.

(Operating to Prevent Skew) Since the present invention is a self-propelled printer, the user's hands are hardly used to assist the printer.Therefore, when starting printing, an action to prevent skew is performed.

In order to prevent the skew, this embodiment is equipped with a pair of left and right recording medium detection means 18 as shown in FIG.
These center lines F are the centers of the pair of drive wheels 11! ! It is placed parallel to G.

Further, the distance between the pair of recording medium detection means 18 is set in advance to a predetermined distance.

Now, when the main body 1 in FIG. 7(a) moves from a diagonal direction to the end of the recording medium 23 as shown in FIG. 7(b), first, one of the recording medium detection means 18B The edge of the recording medium 23 is detected. Then, when the main body 1 continues to move straight, the other recording medium detection means 18A
detects the edge of the recording medium 23. At this time, the main body 1 temporarily stops. Then, from the difference in detection timing between the detection means 18A and 18B, it is determined in which direction the recording medium 23 is tilted in relation to the drive wheel center axis G.

In the case of the positional relationship as shown in FIG. 7(b), one driving wheel 11A is stopped and the other driving wheel 11B is rotated in a direction away from the recording medium 23, so that the other sensing means 18B detects the recording. When the end of the medium 23 is detected again, it is stopped. That is, by rotating the drive wheel that first detected the end of the recording medium 23 in the direction opposite to the direction of movement for printing, and keeping the other drive wheel stopped, This is to remove skew.

By such a skew prevention operation, it is possible to correct the positional relationship between the main body 1 and the recording medium 23 after the above-mentioned reversing operation. Further, such skew correction control is performed by a skew correction section 60D shown in FIG. 17.

(Detection of Movement Amount) The above-described straight running, line feed, and skew prevention operations are performed by controlling the speed and movement amount based on the detection results of the movement amount of the drive wheels 11.

FIG. 8 shows movement amount detection means built into the main body 1 for detecting the amount of movement of the drive wheel 11. A rotary plate 25 having a plurality of slits is connected coaxially with a roller 24 that is pressed against the outer periphery of the drive wheel 11 . This rotary plate 25 is arranged between the light emitting section 26 and the light receiving section 26', and these constitute an encoder. The amount of movement of the outer circumference of the drive wheel 11 is transmitted to the rollers 24, and the amount of rotation of the rollers 24 is counted by an encoder, thereby calculating the amount of movement of the drive wheel 11. Then, this movement amount is converted into speed to perform speed control. Encoders as shown in FIG. 8 are provided for both drive wheels 11, making it possible to control the rotation of both wheels separately.

In FIG. 17, such movement amount detecting means is indicated by the reference numeral 61.

(Correction control for straight travel) Next, straight-line correction control during movement will be explained.

The left and right pair of drive wheels 11 have an error in the amount of movement even when the rotation amount is the same, due to deformation errors in the outer diameter of the drive wheels due to differences in the weight of the main body 1 applied to each, tolerances on the outer diameter during manufacturing, amount of eccentricity, etc. It will happen. Therefore, even if the pair of motors 19 apply the same amount of rotation to the left and right drive wheels 1, the left and right wheels will move by different amounts. This is one of the causes that prevent the main body 1 from moving in a straight line.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which the amount of movement of the left and right drive wheels 11 deviates when the main body 1 moves rightward from position H in the figure. In the case of this figure, the amount of movement of the other drive wheel 11B is smaller than that of the one drive wheel 11A (its outer diameter is smaller).

Let the movement difference be ΔS.

The amount of movement of each of the driving wheels 11A and IIB is detected by the rollers 24 and the encoder as described above, and from the amount of movement and the distance β between the driving wheels, concentric circular arcs whose outer diameters are the trajectories of the left and right driving wheels are determined. Calculate the angle θ. Then, an error Δ° C. in the Y direction (vertical direction) at the printing position is calculated from the drive wheel distance Ifl, the arc angle θ, and the amount of movement of each drive wheel.

If the radius of the arc at this time is R, the error △β is Δn=R(1-cos θ) is required.

When this error △ρ exceeds a certain range and the midpoint between the left and right drive wheels reaches point H' in FIG. It is determined that there is meandering and corrective action is taken. In this example, since the drive wheel 11A has moved a longer distance, the drive wheel 11B is moved by (2・ΔS
) to move a long distance. With this operation, the main body becomes 1
It rotates around the point within a range of (2·θ) as shown in Fig. 9. Then, as the next operation, the drive wheel 11A is moved to the drive wheel 1.
Move it ΔS longer than 1B and move it to the main body position J. Through this series of operations, the main body returns upward to the ideal movement trajectory and returns to the straight-ahead state. As a result, the main body deviates from the ideal movement trajectory in the vertical direction by (2 Δ℃) as shown in Figure 9. θ is determined and controlled so that this deviation becomes a certain standard value. . By repeating such a meandering correction operation, the main body performs a printing operation while being controlled to move straight.

Such straight-ahead correction control is performed by a straight-ahead correction control 60B shown in FIG.

(Replacing the print head) Figure 1O shows the print head replacement situation.

The exterior of the main body 1 is provided with n21 for replacing the print head. The print head 13 of this embodiment has built-in printing ink, and when the printing ink runs out, pull the door 21 in the direction of the arrow in the figure to open it and replace the entire print head 13 with a new one. By replacing it with , it is possible to continue the printing operation.

(Removal of dust on recording media) FIG. 2 shows the dust removal means of this embodiment.

The dust removal means 17, which is arranged in front of the print head 13 in the printing direction, has a dust removal roller 171, which is a cylindrical member, lightly pressed against the recording medium 23. By moving along the recording medium 23 in the direction of the arrow, the dust 27 on the recording medium is attached and collected. Then, the blade 172 that is in pressure contact with the dust removal roller 171 scrapes off the dust on the roller 171 into the dust storage section.

(Fixing of printing) FIG. 11 shows the fixing means of this embodiment.

This fixing means has a roller 28 arranged behind the print head 13 in the printing direction. The roller 28
The length in the axial direction is longer than the printing width of the print head 13, the outer peripheral portion thereof is formed of a highly water-absorbing member, and rotates as the main body 1 moves. The roller 28 is pressed against the recording medium 23 by an elastic member (not shown), and absorbs excess ink droplets remaining on the recording medium, and removes ink stains etc. when the drive wheel 11 passes over the printed surface. To avoid.

(Print head recovery operation) FIG. 12 shows a print head recovery device.

The recovery table 29 has a blade 30 and a cap 31, and a tube is connected from the cap 31 to a pump 34. A tube is similarly connected from the pump 34 to the waste ink tank 35. Also, print head 1
3 is mounted in a print head mounting base 32, and the mounting base 32 is connected to a pair of supports 33 (only one is shown in the figure).
It is rotatably mounted between the

If the ink does not eject or is skewed during the printing operation, the print head recovery operation is started by operating the recovery switch in the switch group 7 on the top surface of the main body l.

FIG. 13 shows the state during the recovery operation.

In the recovery operation, first, the print head mounting base 32 is rotated by a drive source (not shown), and the print head 13 is rotated along the recovery base 29. The recovery table 29 is made of an elastic member, and at the beginning of rotation of the print head 3, a blade 30 comes into pressure contact with the ink ejection surface of the print head 3 to scrape off dirt such as paper dust and ink droplets on the ink ejection surface and clean it. do. When the print head 13 further rotates together with the print head mount 32, the ink ejection surface faces the cap 31, and the cap 31 covers and presses the entire ink ejection surface due to the elastic force of the recovery table 29. As a result, the cap 31
and the ink ejection surface of the print head 13 are in close contact with each other. At this point, the rotation of the print head mounting base 32 is temporarily stopped, and as the next step, the pump 34 is moved to the 13th pump by a drive source (not shown).
It is pushed in the direction of the arrow in the figure to start the suction operation.

By using the suction force of the pump 34 to forcibly suck ink from the ink storage section in the print head 13 through all the nozzles on the ink ejection surface, including nozzles that have become stuck due to dryness or the like and are no longer able to eject. The ink non-ejection state is recovered. After this suction operation, the print head mount 32 rotates in the opposite direction to return the print head 13 to its original printing position (the state shown in FIG. 12). Thereafter, the pump 34 is pulled up in the direction opposite to the arrow in FIG.
send to

With the above operations, the recovery operation of the print head 13 is completed.

Note that the recovery operation display lamp in the light emitting section 9 provided in the main body 1 blinks during the recovery operation to notify the user that the recovery operation is in progress.

Furthermore, when the main body 1 is powered off or does not perform a printing operation for a long time, the ink discharge surface of the print head 13 is automatically sealed with a cap 3I as shown in Fig. 13 to prevent dust from adhering to it and from drying out. .

(Key operations and display) FIG. 14 shows an external view of the top surface of the main body.

Switch group 7 on the top of the main unit includes a start/stop key,
It consists of a recovery operation key, a data input switching key, a print setting key, and a cursor key 7a arranged in the XY force directions. The light emitting section 9 includes an error display lamp, a recovery operation display lamp, and a power on/off display lamp. A speaker/microphone section 8 is arranged above it, which is used to emit a warning sound or to input voice.

In the switch group 7, the start/stop key is a switch that instructs to start and stop the movement and printing operation,
By setting the printer to the start state after setting data and printing conditions, the self-propelled printer of this embodiment starts moving and enters printing operation. Furthermore, when it is desired to stop the printer during operation, by setting the printer to the stop state, printing and moving operations are interrupted and the printer enters a standby state.

Further, the recovery operation key is a key for performing the above-mentioned recovery operation, and is used when the printing condition deteriorates due to adhesion of dust or drying of ink. During this recovery operation, the recovery operation display lamp of the light emitting section 9 flashes to indicate that the print head is being recovered.

Further, the data input switching key is a key for selecting the input means of data for printing, and in this embodiment, input from the memory card 4, input from the magnetic recording medium 6, input from the built-in storage element, input from the main body, etc. A desired type of water is selected from among the types of water input from an external host computer, the input from the microphone/speaker unit 8, and the digitizer input from the display 2.

Further, the print setting key is a key for making various settings regarding the printing state, and printing operations are performed according to the setting conditions. That is, printing speed (high speed mode, low speed mode), printing range (size of recording medium, printing area, printing position, etc.), printing data (actual printing data from among multiple printing data groups from already determined input means) Make decisions such as selecting the data to be printed on the The above selection contents are displayed on the display 2 and are selected manually using the corresponding keys.

Further, the cursor key 78 is a key used to determine the printing area or to select the setting menu on the display 2 during the above-mentioned printing setting. The printing area on the display screen can be specified using the XY force direction cursor.

The light emitting part 9 is an error display lamp that indicates an abnormality in the main body.
It consists of a recovery operation indicator lamp that indicates that the recovery operation is in progress, and a power on/off indicator lamp that indicates that the main unit is powered on/off and is being charged. Each lights up,
The display is performed by blinking.

The microphone/speaker section 8 generates a warning sound as an error indication in the event of an abnormality together with an error display lamp to inform the user of an abnormality in the main body. It is also possible to notify by sound that a printing operation or recovery operation is in progress. Further, the microphone/speaker section 8 is used to input print output data by voice input and input body operation commands by voice. These two types of voice input allow remote control of the main body without using a host computer or the like.

(charging) Fig. 15 shows the charging state of the main body.

Inside the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 2, there is a power supply section 14 and a connector 15, and the end of the connector 15 is exposed to the outside of the main body. If the display 2 on the top of the main unit shows a low battery indication, or if you want to charge it, use the charging device 3.
6 to the aforementioned connector 15, and the charging device 3
Charging is started by connecting the power connector section 6 to an AC power source. At this time, the power on/off display lamp of the light emitting unit 9 is blinking indicating that charging is in progress. When the display 2 above shows the completion of charging, the charging device 3
6 to return to normal printing operation.

[Other Examples]

FIG. 18 shows a second embodiment of the dust removal means.

In the figure, a cooling fan 37 cools the inside of the main body by discharging hot air generated from the inside of the main body, particularly from the electric board holder, to the outside of the main body through an air passage 39. In this embodiment, the cooling fan 37 is used to remove dust. That is, the dust 27 on the recording medium 23 is removed from the recording medium 23 by the suction force of the fan 37. The dust 27 sucked into the main body is removed by the cooling fan 37.
It is attached to the filter 38 attached to the. As a result, the dust 27 is removed from the air discharged by the fan 37, and is discharged to the outside of the main body through the air passage 39.

Note that if a lot of dust has adhered to the filter 38, the filter 38 can be replaced with a new one by opening the door 21 of the main body, in the same way as when replacing the print head described above.

FIG. 19 shows a third embodiment of the dust removal means.

In the case of this embodiment, the dust removal means 17 (see FIG. 2) of the first embodiment described above is made replaceable, and there are
The dust removed from the dust removal roller 171 is stored. The replacement of the dust removal means 17 is carried out in the 19th
Open the door 21 of the main body as shown in the figure, and perform the same procedure as replacing the print head.

FIG. 20 shows a fourth embodiment of the dust removal means.

In the case of this embodiment, the print head 13 and the dust removal means 17 of the third embodiment described above are integrated. Therefore, garbage collection and print head 13 replacement can be performed at the same time.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, since the printer of the present invention has a structure in which the printer body is equipped with a dust removal means for removing dust on the recording medium, the influence of dust on the recording medium can be avoided and the print quality can be improved. Deterioration can be prevented, and when the recording means is an inkjet print head, it is possible to prevent inability to eject.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to not only self-propelled printers in which the printer body moves on a recording medium by itself, but also manual printers in which the printer body moves manually on a recording medium, and inkjet printers. The present invention can be applied to printers equipped with recording means of various types, and has a wide range of applications.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the printer main body for explaining the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the printer shown in FIG.
A schematic cross-sectional view of the illustrated printer body; FIG. 4 is a plan view for explaining the straight forward movement of the printer body shown in the first figure; FIG. 5 is a plane view for explaining the reversing movement of the printer body shown in the first figure. Figure 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the main part of the blinking body shown in Figure 1 to explain the movement prevention operation of the body, and Figure 8 is the movement amount detection provided in the printer body shown in Figure 1. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the linear correction operation of the printer body shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 10 is a perspective view illustrating the print head replacement status of the printer body shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the means. 12 is a side view showing a print head recovery device provided in the printer body shown in 1. FIG. 13 is a vertical sectional view showing the print head recovery device provided in the printer body shown in 1. FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a display section of the printer main body shown in the first drawing; FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing the charging state of the printer main body shown in the first drawing; FIG. 16 The figure is a block diagram of a print head drive control unit provided in the printer body shown in the first figure. Figure 17 is a block diagram of a traveling means provided in the printer body shown in the first figure. Figure 18 is a second embodiment of the present invention. 19th longitudinal sectional view showing
The figure is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 20 is a perspective view of main parts showing a fourth embodiment of the invention. 1... Printer body, 2... Display, 3... Slot, 4... Memory card, 5... Disk drive, 6... Floppy disk, 7... Switch group, 8... - Microphone/speaker part, 9... Light emitting part, 10... Antenna, 11... Drive wheel, 12... Auxiliary method, 13... Print head, 14... Power supply part, 15... - Connector, 16... Electrical board, 17... Dust removal means, 18... Recording medium detection means, 19... Motor, 20... Gear train, 21... Door, 23... Recording medium, 24... Roller, 25... Encoder, 26... Light emitting light receiving section, 27... Dust, 28... Fixing means, 29... Recovery table, 30... Blade, 31 ...Cap, 32...Print head mounting portion, 33...Strut, 34...Pump, 35...Waste ink tank, 36...Charging device, 37...Cooling fan, 38 ... Filter 39 ... Air path, 171 ... Dust removal roller 172 ... Blade. Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 17 Figure 20 Figure 18 Figure 19

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A printer in which a printer body including a recording means moves over a recording medium, further comprising a dust removing means for taking in and removing dust on the recording medium at a position near the recording means. A self-propelled printer featuring 2) The printer according to claim 1, wherein the dust removal means is replaceable. 3) The printer according to claim 1, wherein the dust means is constructed integrally with the recording means.