JPH04331178A - Method for detecting remaining quantity of ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a method for detecting remaining quantity of a ribbon wherein remaining quantity (used quantity) of an ink ribbon can be detected accurately even in the case that an ink ribbon cassette being used is exchanged for other ink ribbon cassette or the ribbon is taken up manually, in a printer using the ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:A rotation angle of a reel 13 at the time that a ribbon 1 is sent by a predetermined unit length is detected by a rotation detect device 21 of FG by utilizing that the winding diameter of the reel 13 changes when the ribbon 1 is taken up. Thus, remaining quantity of the ribbon is calculated based on the rotation angle.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for detecting the remaining amount of an ink ribbon in a printer using an ink ribbon.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art There is a known printer that uses an ink ribbon and thermally transfers ink from the ink ribbon onto recording paper (photographic paper).

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an ink ribbon, and the ink ribbon 1 has a number of consecutive ink portions 2 (hereinafter referred to as one ink portion) each containing the three primary colors of yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C as one unit. It is formed by

Reference numeral 3 denotes a cue mark provided between the ink portions 2, 2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ink ribbon 1 is wound around one reel of a ribbon cassette 11, that is, the reel 12 on the ribbon supply side, and is wound around the other reel, that is, the reel 13 on the ribbon winding side. During the removal process, the dyes of the three primary colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan in the ink portion 2 are successively thermally transferred onto the recording paper.

[0006]The printer counts up the number of sheets each time the ink section 2 is wound up one by one.

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, as a method of counting the number of sheets used in the ink section, the number of prints is set to 0 (zero) at the beginning of use of the ink ribbon, and the number of prints is automatically counted every time one sheet is used from the ink section 2. Because the count was counted up, there were problems as described below. (This counting method also records the count in an electrically erasable and writable ROM so that it can be used even when the power switch is turned off.)
.

(1) If for some reason the ribbon cassette that has been used until now is removed from the printer and another ribbon cassette is attached, the counts will no longer match.

(2) If the user winds up the ink ribbon by hand, the actual number of used sheets and the counted number may not match.

[0010]Also, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional counting method, it may be possible to attach a mark to the ink ribbon itself so that it can be seen which page is being inked, but this method reduces the manufacturing cost of the ink ribbon. There is a problem in that the fuel consumption increases and the running cost is affected.

The present invention focuses on the fact that the diameter of the reel changes each time the ink section is wound, and by measuring the diameter of the reel, the remaining amount of the ink ribbon can be detected. .

0012

[Means for Solving the Problems] In a ribbon cassette in which a ribbon sent from a reel on a ribbon supply side is wound up on a reel on a ribbon winding side, the ribbon is rolled to a certain unit length, for example, 1. The rotation angle of the reel when a sheet of ink is fed is detected by a rotation detection device, and the remaining amount of ribbon is detected based on the rotation angle.

[0013]

[Operation] The rotation angle of the reel changes each time the ink portion of the ink ribbon is wound one by one, and there is a certain correlation between the number of sheets of the ink portion to be wound and the rotation angle of the reel.

[0014] Therefore, the ink ribbon has a predetermined unit length,
For example, by detecting the rotation angle of the reel when the ink portion is fed by one sheet, it is automatically determined which sheet the ink portion is for.

[0015]

[Embodiment] Next, a method for detecting the remaining amount of ribbon according to the present invention will be explained.

Prior to the explanation, first, the radius of the reel 12 on the ribbon supply side and the reel 12 on the ribbon winding side of the ribbon cassette 11 as shown in FIG. 4 is r0 (mm), and the thickness of the ink ribbon 1 is a( A general formula showing the relationship between the number of ink ribbons 1 used in the ink portion in the ribbon cassette 11 (mm) and the rotation angle of the reel 12 on the ribbon supply side per ink portion will be explained.

Here, the rotation angle of the reel 13 on the ribbon winding side is detected by detecting m edges per rotation of the reel 13 with a rotation detection device disposed on the reel 13 side.

At this time, assuming that X edges can be detected when the ink ribbon 1 is fed by a length L (mm) corresponding to one ink section, the number n of used ink sections at that time is determined.

When (n≧2), the radius of the reel on the ribbon supply side for the (n-1)th ribbon is rmm.

[0020]

[Math 1]

Next, an example will be described in which the above formula is applied to specifically detect the number of used ink ribbons when a ribbon cassette is installed in a printer.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the ribbon cassette 11
The radius r0 of the reel 12 on the ribbon supply side and the reel 13 on the ribbon winding side is 11.8 mm, the thickness a of the ink ribbon 1 is 7 x 10-3 mm, and the length L per ink section is 1000 mm. shall be.

An FG 21 as a rotation detecting device is arranged on the reel 12 side on the ribbon winding side, so that edges of 48 pulse signals can be detected per one revolution of the reel 12 on the ribbon winding side. 22 is a motor.

As mentioned above, the length L per ink section is 1000 mm, so when n=1 according to the above formula (4), X≈647. Also, according to the above formula (3) When X≒642, when n=3, X≒637...
...When n=98, X≒405, when n=99, X≒4
A result of 04 was obtained.

If the above results are tabulated, the number n of sheets used in the ink section can be immediately determined from the number of edges X.

In FIG. 1, 23 is recording paper, 24
is a paper cassette, 25 is a paper feed lever, 26 is a paper feed belt, 27 is a platen roller, 28 is a thermal head, 29
, 30 are first and second guide rollers that press the recording paper 23 against the platen roller 27, 31 and 32 are paper detection sensors, 33 is a paper ejection section, and 34 is between the paper ejection section 33 and the paper cassette 24. This is a paper temporary return unit provided.

Then, the recording paper 23 sent to the platen roller 27 side by the paper feed belt 26 is overlapped with the ink ribbon 1 on the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 27.
First, the dye of the yellow ink portion Y is thermally transferred by the thermal head 28 . When the thermal transfer of the yellow ink portion Y is completed, the recording paper 23 is temporarily returned to the paper return section 34, and during this time the magenta ink portion M of the ink ribbon 1 is sent to the position of the thermal head 28.

The magenta ink portion M is the thermal head 2.
When the recording paper 23 is fed to the position 8, the recording paper 23 that had been returned to the paper return section 34 is sent to the platen roller 27 side, and the dye of the magenta ink portion M is thermally transferred to the recording paper 23 by the thermal head 28. Ru.

Further, by repeating the same operation as described above, the dye of the cyan ink portion C is thermally transferred to the recording paper 23, and the printing operation is completed.

In the case of the example, the radius of the reel is 11.8 m.
m, the length of each ink ribbon is much larger at 1000 mm, so the rotation angle of the reel per ink part, that is, the number of edges, changes greatly. Therefore, the number of ink ribbons used is It is possible to accurately detect individual sheets.

[0031] Also, the interval between the edges of FG21 is
If the number is 8 to 100 or more, not only can the number of sheets used be detected more accurately, but even if the ink ribbon feeding amount is small, the length of one ink section is 100, for example.
It is also possible to detect the number of used sheets by simply feeding one color of the ink portions Y, M, and S without feeding 0 mm.

[0032] Note that the rotation angle (number of rotations or number of edges) of the reel with respect to the feed amount of a predetermined unit length of the ink ribbon
To calculate the number of ink ribbons used from You may also create a table showing the relationship with the number of sheets used and refer to it.

Furthermore, although the embodiment has been described with reference to the case of detecting the remaining amount of ink ribbon in a printer, the ribbon referred to herein is not limited to an ink ribbon, but may be a tape of a tape recorder or other material.

[0034]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the method for detecting the remaining amount of ribbon of the present invention focuses on the fact that the winding diameter of the ribbon changes as the ribbon is wound. Since the rotation angle of the reel is detected and the remaining amount of ribbon is detected based on the rotation angle, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Even when the ribbon cassette is removed and replaced with a different ribbon cassette, the correct number of sheets used can be detected.

(2) Even if the user winds up the ink ribbon by hand, it is possible to accurately detect the number of sheets used at the point after winding up the ink ribbon.

(3) There is no need to put a mark on the ink ribbon itself to indicate which sheet it is, and everything except the mechanism for detecting the rotation angle can be handled by software, which is advantageous in terms of cost. (It does not particularly affect running costs.)

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an example of use of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a reel rotation detection device.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the ink ribbon.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

1... Ink ribbon, 12... Ribbon supply side reel, 15
... Reel on the ribbon winding side, 21... Rotation detection device (FG)
.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: In a ribbon cassette in which the ribbon fed from a reel on a ribbon supply side is wound up on a reel on a ribbon winding side, the length of the reel when the ribbon is fed a predetermined unit length. A method for detecting a remaining amount of ribbon, comprising: detecting a rotation angle with a rotation detection device, and detecting a remaining amount of ribbon based on the rotation angle.