JPH05147250A - Thermal transfer type printer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a thermal transfer type printer apparatus wherein electri cally energizing time for a thermal head can be accurately measured and life control for the thermal head can be accurately performed. CONSTITUTION:A thermal head 20 is electrically energized by an electrically energizing control circuit 4 when an electrically energizing command signal S0 output from a mechanism control circuit 3 is at an L level and printing is performed based on a printing timing signal S5. The mechanism control circuit 3 detects the number of print lines by counting the printing timing signal S5 and writes in a non-volatile memory 9. A memory control circuit 8 reads out the number of print lines from the non-volatile memory 9. A display control circuit 10 corrects the number of print lines into time unit and displays it on an LCD module 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type printer device for performing thermal transfer printing on recording paper by using a thermal head, which can accurately measure the energization time of the thermal head and manage the life of the thermal head. It can be done accurately.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal transfer printer, the degree of wear of a thermal head, which is one of the consumable members, is managed and the thermal head is maintained and managed. Then, in the conventional thermal transfer printer, the energization time of the thermal head is estimated based on the past total number of prints, and the life guarantee and maintenance of the thermal head are performed.

[0003]

However, in the management of the energization time of the thermal head based on the total number of prints, the actual use time (energization time) of the thermal head cannot be grasped, and the accurate life of the thermal head Can't manage. The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and thermal transfer capable of accurately measuring the actual use time (energization time) of the thermal head and accurately performing life management of the thermal head. It is an object of the present invention to provide a type printer device.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides (1) a mechanism control circuit 3 to which a printer control signal is supplied and an energization control circuit to which print data is supplied. 4, the mechanism control circuit 3 controls the energization of the thermal head 20 by the energization control circuit 4 to perform thermal transfer printing based on the print data. A print line number detecting means 3 for detecting the print line number by counting the print timing signal S5 supplied to the energization control circuit 4, a non-volatile memory 9 for storing the print line number, and the non-volatile memory 9 A memory controller for controlling the writing of the number of print lines to and the reading of the number of print lines from the nonvolatile memory 9. Output from the step 8 and the energization time output means 10 for converting the number of print lines read out from the non-volatile memory 9 into a unit of time and outputting as the energization time of the thermal head 20. Provided is a thermal transfer type printer device having a display means 11 for displaying the thermal head energization time, and (2) a mechanism control circuit 3 to which a printer control signal is supplied and print data is supplied. In the thermal transfer printer apparatus, which has a power supply control circuit 4 for controlling the power supply to the thermal head 20 by the mechanism control circuit 3 and performs thermal transfer printing based on the print data. By counting the print timing signal S5 supplied from the control circuit 3 to the energization control circuit 4, Thermal head energization time detecting means 3 for detecting energization time of the thermal head 20, non-volatile memory 9 for storing the thermal head energization time, writing of the thermal head energization time in the non-volatile memory 9 and the non-volatility Memory 9
A thermal transfer printer device comprising: a memory control unit 8 for controlling reading of the thermal head energization time from the memory; and a display unit 11 for reading and displaying the thermal head energization time from the non-volatile memory 9. Is provided.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A thermal transfer type printer device of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer type printer device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the thermal transfer type printer device of the present invention.

The thermal transfer printer of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 is connected to an external host computer (not shown) by an interface circuit 1 and a SCSI (Small Computer Syste).
ms Interface) is configured to perform printing by communicating print data and printer control signals via a bus.
The interface circuit 1 outputs the print data from the external host computer to the print data process circuit 2,
The printer control signal is output to the mechanism control circuit 3.
The print data process circuit 2 performs various corrections such as heat storage correction on the print data output from the interface circuit 1, and the corrected print data is, for example, 8 bits (256 bits).
The parallel data of (gradation) is output to the energization control circuit 4.

Central processing unit CP surrounded by a broken line in the figure
The mechanism control circuit 3 in U is the interface circuit 1
A mechanism drive signal corresponding to the printer control signal output from the printer and the sensor signal from the sensor switch 5 provided in the printer main body is output to the mechanism drive circuit 6, and is high (H) when the thermal head 20 is not energized. Level and energization command signal S0 of low level when energized
Is output to the energization control circuit 4. Further, the mechanism control circuit 3 outputs a print timing signal S5 as described later. The mechanism drive circuit 6 presses the thermal head 20 against the platen roller according to the drive signal from the mechanism control circuit 3 and drives various motors, plungers, etc. for moving the recording paper in the sub-scanning direction. Also,
The power-on reset circuit 7 outputs a reset signal to the mechanism control circuit 3 when the power of the printer is turned on,
The mechanism control circuit 3 is initialized.

The energization control circuit 4 includes an energization control signal S1 which is a strobe signal for the thermal head 20, a head load signal S2 which is a latch signal for the thermal head 20 to load print data for one line, and a print data. The print data from the process circuit 2 is D-T converted into a time signal having a pulse width or the number of pulses, and a print data signal S3 and a head clock signal S4 are output to the thermal head 20. When the power is turned on and the mechanism control circuit 3 is reset by the power-on reset circuit 7 to output the H level non-conduction signal S0, the energization control circuit 4 outputs the H level non-conduction signal S1. Is configured.

The thermal head 20 includes a shift register 2
1, a latch circuit 22, a plurality of AND gates 23, and a heating element (resistor) 24. The serial print data signal S3 from the energization control circuit 4 is sequentially transferred to the shift register 21 by the head clock signal S4 to store one line, and the print data signal S for one line is stored.
3 is latched in parallel by the head load signal S2 which is a latch signal by the latch circuit 22, and each dot data is applied to one input terminal of each AND gate 23.

The energization control signal S1 from the energization control circuit 4 is applied to the other terminal of the AND gate 23. Therefore, when the energization control signal S1 is at the L level, each heating element 24 of the thermal head 20 is turned on. The voltage Vth from the power source generates heat in accordance with the print data signal S3. Therefore, A
The ND gate 23 switches the energization current to the heating element 24 of the thermal head 20 according to the print data. In addition, since the print data signal S3 is a non-printing (white) signal during standby even when the power is turned on, the energization control circuit 4 causes the heating element of the thermal head 20 to adjust the voltage Vth of the power supply. It can be controlled so that 24 is not energized.

Next, the detection of the energization time of the thermal head 20, which is the subject matter of the present invention, will be described. When the recording paper (not shown) reaches a predetermined position (print start position), the mechanism control circuit 3 sets the energization command signal (print enable signal) S0 shown in FIG. Allows the transfer of print data to the printer and energization. The mechanism control circuit 3 also outputs a print timing signal S5 to the energization control circuit 4, and the printing on the recording paper is performed by the print timing signal S5 output at a constant cycle t shown in FIG. It is performed at the pulse timing. Further, the mechanism control circuit 3 always counts the number of printed lines (that is, the print timing signal S5 during the period when the energization command signal S0 is at the L level), and when the number of printed lines matches the designated print line number, the energization command signal S0 is output. The H level is set, and the transfer of print data to the thermal head 20 and the energization are prohibited, and the printing is completed.

Therefore, the mechanism control circuit 3 also operates as a print line number detecting means for detecting the number of printed lines. Then, the mechanism control circuit 3 inputs the counted number of print lines to the memory control circuit 8.
The number of printing lines is the energizing time of the thermal head 20 as described later. The memory control circuit 8 is a non-volatile memory 9
The data already stored up to now is read, the counted number of print lines is added, and the added data is written in the nonvolatile memory 9. Of course, when nothing is stored in the non-volatile memory 9, the counted print line number is written as it is.

Further, reading and display of the number of print lines detected as described above and written in the nonvolatile memory 9 will be described. In this embodiment, although not described in detail, the mechanism control circuit 3 counts not only the number of print lines (that is, the energization time of the thermal head 20) but also the operation time of the mechanism and the number of error occurrences. Therefore, when the energization time of the thermal head 20 is read out and displayed, that mode is selected by the mode selection switch 13 and then performed.

The mechanism control circuit 3 is activated by turning on the read switch 12 while the thermal head energizing time is selected by the mode selecting switch 13.
When a read signal is supplied to the mechanism control circuit 3
Instructs the memory control circuit 8 to read the total number of print lines stored in the nonvolatile memory 9, and the memory control circuit 8
Reads the total number of print lines stored in the non-volatile memory 9. The read data is input to the display control circuit 10, and the display control circuit 10 calculates the total number of print lines × pulse period t to make corrections in time units, and the LCD module 11 serving as display means displays the total amount of the thermal head. Display as energization time. That is, the display control circuit 10 operates as an energization time output unit that converts the number of print lines into a unit of time and outputs the result as the energization time of the thermal head 20.

In this embodiment, the number of lines printed by the mechanism control circuit 3 is counted, the total number of print lines is stored in the non-volatile memory 9, and the total number of print lines is read from the non-volatile memory 9. After that, the mechanism control circuit 3 converts the number of print lines into a unit of time and then writes it into the non-volatile memory 9 to convert it into a unit of time and display it on the LCD module 11. The total energization time of the thermal head is read from the memory 9 and the LCD module 11 is read.
It may be configured to be displayed. In this case, the mechanism control circuit 3 detects the number of print lines by counting the print timing signal S5, and converts the number of print lines into time units to detect the energization time of the thermal head 20. Thermal head energization time detection Act as a means. As described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0016]

As described in detail above, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is configured to directly detect the energization time of the thermal head and store / read out the energization time. Can be accurately measured, and the life of the thermal head can be accurately controlled, which is an extremely excellent practical effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining a thermal transfer printer device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 mechanism control circuit (printing line number detection means, thermal head energization time detection means) 4 energization control circuit 8 memory control circuit (memory control means) 9 non-volatile memory 10 display control circuit (energization time output means) 11 LCD module (display Means) 20 thermal head

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A mechanism control circuit to which a printer control signal is supplied and an energization control circuit to which print data is supplied. The mechanism control circuit controls energization of a thermal head by the energization control circuit, In a thermal transfer printer that performs thermal transfer printing based on the print data, a print line number detection unit that detects a print line number by counting a print timing signal supplied from the mechanism control circuit to the energization control circuit, A non-volatile memory that stores the number of print lines; a memory control unit that controls writing of the number of print lines to the non-volatile memory and reading of the number of print lines from the non-volatile memory; The read number of print lines is converted into a unit of time and the thermal head A thermal transfer printer device comprising: an energization time output means for outputting the energization time; and a display means for displaying the thermal head energization time output from the energization time output means. 2. A mechanism control circuit to which a printer control signal is supplied and an energization control circuit to which print data is supplied, wherein the mechanism control circuit controls energization of the thermal head by the energization control circuit, In a thermal transfer printer that performs thermal transfer printing based on the print data, a thermal head energization time for detecting an energization time of the thermal head by counting a print timing signal supplied from the mechanism control circuit to the energization control circuit. A detection unit; a non-volatile memory for storing the thermal head energization time; and a memory control unit for controlling writing of the thermal head energization time to the non-volatile memory and reading of the thermal head energization time from the non-volatile memory. And the thermistor from the non-volatile memory A thermal transfer printer device, comprising: a display unit for reading out and displaying the printhead energization time.