JPH05294026A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically close a paper feed means when the paper feed means provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to a printer main body is not used. CONSTITUTION:An opening and closing sensor 4 detecting the opening and closing state of a paper feed means 2 openable and closable with respect to a main abody 1, a paper feed sensor 5 detecting the presence of the paper feed due to the paper feed means and a drive means 7 driving the paper feed means in a closing direction are provided and, when paper feed is not detected for a predetermined time by the paper feed sensor 5 in such a state that the open state of the paper feed means is detected by the opening and closing sensor 4, the drive means 7 is operated to close the paper feed means. Or, when a predetermined time is elapsed after the printing command using the paper feed means is issued, the paper feed means is closed. When a printing command not using the paper feed means is issued, the paper feed means is closed. When there is no printing command, the paper feed means is closed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to printers. In particular, the present invention relates to a printer configured to automatically close the sheet feeding means provided when the sheet feeding means that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body is not used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a printer that uses cut sheets is composed of a paper feeding means, a printing device, a paper discharging means, a control device, a power supply device, and a case.

Of these, the printing device, the control device, and the power supply device have been downsized in recent years.

However, the paper feed means and the paper discharge means are physically restricted by the size of the cut paper, and it is difficult to reduce the size.

Therefore, in the conventional printer, as shown in FIG. 12, for example, a paper feed cassette C which forms the paper feeding means.
Had a shape protruding from the main body A.

[0006]

In the conventional printer described above, since the paper feed cassette C projects from the main body A, the floor area of the printer becomes large and the space around the printer cannot be effectively used. There was a problem.

In order to solve such a problem, it is conceivable that the sheet feeding means such as a sheet feeding cassette can be opened and closed with respect to the main body. It is troublesome, and if the user forgets to close the sheet, the sheet feeding means may be projected from the main body as in the conventional case, and as a result, it may not be possible to effectively use the space.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a printer in which the paper feeding means that can be opened and closed relative to the main body is automatically closed when the paper feeding means is not used. Especially.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a printer having a paper feeding means capable of being opened and closed with respect to a main body, and detects an open / closed state of the paper feeding means. The open / close sensor, the paper feed sensor for detecting the presence / absence of paper feed by the paper feed means, the drive means for driving the paper feed means in at least the closing direction, and the open / close sensor detect the open state of the paper feed means. In this state, when the paper feed sensor does not detect the paper feed for a predetermined time, the control means operates the drive means in a direction in which the paper feed means closes.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer which has a paper feeding means that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body, and operates according to a print command from a host computer, and detects the open / closed state of the paper feeding means. After the opening / closing sensor, the driving means for driving the paper feeding means at least in the closing direction, and the print command using the paper feeding means, the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means for a predetermined time. And a control means for operating the driving means in a direction in which the paper feeding means closes when the time has elapsed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer which has a sheet feeding means that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body, and operates according to a print command from a host computer, and detects the open / closed state of the sheet feeding means. When there is an open / close sensor, drive means for driving the paper feed means at least in the closing direction, and a print command not using the paper feed means, the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feed means. At this time, a control means for operating the driving means in a direction in which the paper feeding means is closed is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer, which has a sheet feeding means that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body, and operates according to a print command from a host computer, and detects the open / closed state of the sheet feeding means. An opening / closing sensor, a driving unit that drives the paper feeding unit at least in a closing direction, and a direction in which the paper feeding unit closes when the opening / closing sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding unit when there is no print command. And a control means for operating the driving means.

The "predetermined time" in the first or second aspect of the invention is such that when the paper feeding means is in use, the paper feeding means normally feeds the paper within a not-so-long time. Therefore, each time is set in consideration of this time.

[0014]

The printer having the above-described structure operates as follows.

In the printer according to the first aspect, when the paper feeding means is used, it can be opened to feed the paper to the main body. At this time, the open state of the sheet feeding means is detected by the open / close sensor. Further, the paper feed state is detected by the paper feed sensor.

When the use of the paper feed means is finished and the paper feed is not detected by the paper feed sensor even after a lapse of a predetermined time, the drive means is operated by the control of the control means to close the paper feed means.

In the printer according to the second aspect, when there is a print instruction to use the paper feeding means, the paper feeding means can be opened to feed the paper to the main body. At this time, the open state of the sheet feeding means is detected by the open / close sensor.

When a predetermined time elapses after the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means after a print command using the paper feeding means, the drive means operates under the control of the control means, and the paper feeding means Closes.

In the printer according to the third aspect, when there is a print instruction to use the paper feeding means, the paper feeding means can be opened to feed the paper to the main body. At this time, the open state of the sheet feeding means is detected by the open / close sensor.

If the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means when there is a print command not using the paper feeding means,
The drive means is activated by the control of the control means, and the paper feeding means is closed.

According to another aspect of the printer of the present invention, when the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means even though there is no print command, the drive means operates under the control of the control means, and the paper feeding means. Closes.

As described above, in any of the printers, when the paper feeding means provided so as to be openable / closable with respect to the main body is not used, the paper feeding means is automatically closed.

[0023]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a printer according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view, FIG. 3 is a perspective view with a paper feeding means opened, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a partial plan cross-sectional view showing a state where the sheet feeding means is opened, which is taken along line IV in FIG.
-IV view, FIG. 5 is a block diagram.

In these figures, reference numeral 1 is a main body of the printer, and as shown in FIG.
b, a control means described later, and a power supply device (not shown).

Reference numeral 2 denotes a paper feeding means, which is a manual paper feeding tray in this embodiment. The manual feed tray 2
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, it is composed of a bottom plate 2a and side plates 2b and 2c, and is rotatably attached to the body frame 1f by shafts 2d and 2d formed on the side plates 2b and 2c. A protrusion 2e is formed on one side plate 2b,
As shown in FIG. 7, the other side plate 2c is formed with a gear 2f that meshes with a gear 7a of a motor 7 described later. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2g is a handle formed on the bottom surface of the bottom plate 2a, and reference numeral 1b in FIG. 3 is a housing portion for the manual paper feed tray 2.

2 and 4, reference numeral 3 denotes a sensor lever, which is a shaft 3a rotatably attached to the main body frame 1f, an open / close detection lever 3b integrally provided with the shaft 3a, and a paper feed detection. The lever 3c and the actuator 3d (see FIG. 6). As shown in FIG. 6, a tension spring 3e is provided between the tip of the opening / closing detection lever 3b and the main body frame 1f, whereby the sensor lever 3 has the opening / closing lever 3b and the paper feed detection lever 3c. Is urged in such a way that it stands upright (see Figure (b)). An open / close sensor 4 and a paper feed sensor 5 are provided in the rotation path of the operator 3d. Each of these sensors 4 and 5 is an optical sensor and is turned off when its optical path is blocked by the operator 3d, and is turned on when the operator 3d is removed from the optical path, and its signal is sent to the control means 6 (FIG. 5).
See)). All of these sensors 4 and 5 are attached to the main body frame 1f.

As shown in FIG. 6A, when the manual feed tray 2 is closed, the protrusion 2e of the manual feed tray is
The sensor lever 3 rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure by coming into contact with the opening / closing detection lever 3b through the opening 1c provided in the wall of the housing portion of the main body. At this time, the actuator 3d has the open / close sensor 4
Also, any optical path of the paper feed sensor 5 is blocked. This detects that the manual feed tray 2 is closed. At this time, the paper feed sensor 5 does not participate in detecting that the manual paper feed tray 2 is closed.

As shown in FIG. 3B, when the manual feed tray 2 is opened, the protrusion 2e of the manual feed tray is released from contact with the open / close detection lever 3b, so that the sensor lever 3 is pulled. It is rotated counterclockwise in the figure by the action of the spring 3e. At this time, the operator 3d exits the optical path of the open / close sensor 4 and blocks only the optical path of the paper feed sensor 5. As a result, it is detected that the manual feed tray 2 has been opened.

As shown in FIG. 1C, when the paper P is supplied from the manual paper feed tray 2, the paper feed detection lever 3c
The lower end of the sheet comes into contact with the sheet P, and the sensor lever 3 rotates counterclockwise against the tension of the tension spring 3e. At this time, the operator 3d is also removed from the optical path of the paper feed sensor 5. As a result, the paper feed from the manual paper feed tray 2 is detected.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 7 denotes a motor which constitutes a driving means and is attached to the main body frame 1f as shown in FIG. The output shaft of the motor 7 is provided with a gear 7a, and this gear 7a meshes with the gear 2f formed on the side plate 2c of the manual paper feed tray (see FIG. 7). By driving the motor 7, the manual paper feed tray 2 is closed. An appropriate speed reducer may be interposed between the gears 7a and 2f.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 8 is an automatic paper feed cassette, which is built in the main body 1. This automatic paper feed cassette 8
The paper sent from the paper feed roller 8a from the paper is supplied to the printing apparatus 1a through the paper feed path 1d.

A paper passage sensor 12 is arranged between the gate roller 13 and the confluence portion 15 of the paper feed path 14 for the manual paper feed tray 2 and the paper feed path 1d for the automatic paper feed cassette 8. There is. When paper is supplied from the manual paper feed tray 2 or the automatic paper feed cassette 8 and its tip comes into contact with the lever 12a of the paper passage sensor 12 to rotate the lever 12a, the paper passage sensor 12 is turned on for a certain time (0 .5
~ 5 seconds), the gate roller 13 is rotated, and the printing device 1a
Is activated to print on the paper. The printed sheet is discharged onto the stacker 1s formed on the upper portion of the main body through the sheet discharge path 1b.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 6 is a control means, which comprises a CPU 6a connected to the host computer 10 and a motor drive circuit 6b for driving the motor 7. The control unit 6 controls the operation of the entire printer.

Further, the control means 6 is in a state in which the open / close sensor 4 detects the open state of the manual feed tray 2.
(A) When the paper feed sensor 5 does not detect the paper feed for a predetermined time,
(B) If there is a print command that does not use the paper feeding unit,
(C) In any of the cases where there is no print command, the motor drive circuit 6b drives the motor 7 in the direction in which the manual paper feed tray 2 is closed. In this embodiment, the "predetermined time" is set to 30 to 60 seconds. In FIG. 5, 9 is an indicator, which is attached to the main body 1 as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the above printer will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
The numbers in the figure are step numbers.

In step 101, the host computer 10
When a print command is input from the control means 6 from step 102,
Then, it is determined whether the print command is a manual paper feed command or an automatic paper feed command.

If it is determined in step 102 that the print command is the manual paper feed command, in step 103
Display the manual feed on the display 9
At 04, it is confirmed by the signal from the open / close sensor 4 whether or not the manual paper feed tray 2 is opened. If not, the operator waits for the manual paper feed tray to be opened in step 105. If it is open or opened by the operator, the next step 106
Proceed to.

In step 106, the manual feed tray 2
Is opened within n seconds (set to 30 to 60 seconds in this embodiment).

If it is within n seconds, step 107
Check if the operator manually feeds paper. If the paper is manually fed, the paper feed sensor 5 and the paper passage sensor 12 are turned on, printing is performed by the printing apparatus 1a in step 108, and then the process returns to step 101.

In step 106, if n seconds have passed since the manual paper feed tray 2 was opened (for example, if a print command for manual paper feed is continuously input, the second sheet is printed. Usually, n seconds have passed), and in step 109, a predetermined time t has passed since there is no more paper in the manual paper feed tray (that is, after the paper feed sensor 5 is turned off).
It is determined whether or not a second (30 to 60 seconds is set in this embodiment) has elapsed. If t seconds have not elapsed, there is a possibility that the manual feed tray will continue to be used. Therefore, in step 107, the manual feed tray is awaited. If there is manual feeding within t seconds, printing is performed in step 108 and the process returns to step 101. When t seconds have elapsed (for example, when the operator interrupts the manual feed work and starts other work), the motor 7 is driven in step 110 to close the manual feed tray 2, and steps 104 and 105 are performed. Wait for the bypass tray to be opened again. When the manual feed tray is opened, printing by manual paper feed continues.

If it is judged in the above-mentioned step 102 that it is not the manual paper feed command, step 111
The indication of automatic paper feeding is displayed on the display 9. Step 112
Determines whether the manual feed tray 2 is open,
If it is open, the manual paper feed tray 2 is closed in step 113, paper is fed from the automatic paper feed cassette 8 in step 114, printing is performed in step 108, and the process returns to step 101.

If there is no print command in step 101, the process waits until there is a print command. At this time, in step 115, it is checked whether the manual paper feed tray 2 is open and it is opened. If so, the routine closes in step 116 and enters the standby state.

As described above, according to the printer of this embodiment, when the manual feed tray 2 is not used,
Since the manual paper feed tray 2 is automatically closed, the opening and closing work of the manual paper feed tray is not troublesome and the space around the printer can be effectively used.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the second embodiment.

The feature of this embodiment is that the control means 16 detects the open state of the manual paper feed tray after the open / close sensor 4 receives a print command using the paper feed means (the manual paper feed tray in this embodiment). This is similar to the first embodiment in that the motor 7 is configured to be driven in the closing direction of the manual paper feed tray when a predetermined time elapses in this state. Therefore, in this embodiment, the paper feed sensor 5 is unnecessary.

The operation will be described below with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. The numerals in the figure are step numbers, and the same steps as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG. 8 are designated by the same step numbers and the description thereof is omitted.

The operation of this embodiment differs from the operation of the first embodiment in the operation of step 209.

That is, in this embodiment, if n seconds have passed since the manual paper feed tray 2 was opened, step 20
At 9, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time x seconds (set to 30 to 60 seconds in the present embodiment) has elapsed since the manual paper feed instruction was issued.

If x seconds have not elapsed, step 1
Wait for manual feeding at 07. In this case, the presence / absence of manual feeding is determined by turning ON / OFF the sheet passage sensor 12. If there is manual feeding within x seconds, printing is performed in step 108, and the process returns to step 101.

If there is no manual paper feeding after x seconds have passed (for example, if the operator interrupts the manual paper feeding work and starts other work), the motor 7 is driven in step 110 to manually feed the paper. Close Tray 2, step 10
Wait for the bypass tray to be opened again at 4,105. When the manual feed tray is opened, printing by manual paper feed continues.

According to the printer of this embodiment, in addition to the same effects as the first embodiment, the effect that the paper feed sensor becomes unnecessary is also obtained.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be appropriately made within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, n seconds, t seconds, x
Although the seconds are set to 30 to 60 seconds, respectively, these times can be appropriately set to different times.

Further, although the manual paper feed tray 2 is adopted as the paper feed means in the above embodiment, the automatic paper feed tray 20 may be adopted as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 20e is a projection that operates in the same manner as the above-described projection 2e, 23 is a sensor lever that operates in the same manner as the sensor lever 3, and 21 is a paper feed roller. When the automatic paper feed tray 20 is closed, the paper P is held between the paper P and the wall surface of the storage section 1b.

Although the operator manually opens the manual feed tray 2 in step 105, the motor 7 may be used to automatically open it. However, in this case, if the manual feed tray is closed in step 110, it is preferable to manually open it.

[0057]

According to the present invention, when the paper feeding means provided to be openable / closable with respect to the main body is not used, the paper feeding means is automatically closed, so that the space around the printer is effectively utilized. The effect that can be obtained is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same manual feed tray opened.

FIG. 4 is a partial plan cross-sectional view showing a state where the manual paper feed tray is also opened.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the same.

6A, 6B and 6C are operation explanatory diagrams.

FIG. 7 is a partial perspective view of a motor and a manual feed tray.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an operation explanation flowchart.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a flowchart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a partial cross-sectional view of a modified example.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a conventional printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main body 2 Manual feed tray 4 Open / close sensor 5 Paper feed sensor 7 Motor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer having a paper feeding unit that can be opened and closed with respect to a main body, and an open / close sensor for detecting an open / closed state of the paper feeding unit, and a paper feed sensor for detecting the presence / absence of paper feeding by the paper feeding unit. A driving means for driving the paper feeding means at least in a closing direction; and when the paper feeding sensor does not detect the paper feeding for a predetermined time while the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means, A printer comprising: a control unit that operates the drive unit in a closing direction. 2. A printer having a paper feeding means that can be opened and closed with respect to a main body and operated by a print command from a host computer, the printer including an open / close sensor for detecting an open / closed state of the paper feeding means, and a paper feeding means. When a predetermined time elapses in a state in which the open / close sensor detects the open state of the sheet feeding unit after a print command to use the sheet feeding unit and a driving unit that drives at least the closing direction, the sheet feeding unit A printer comprising: a control unit that operates the drive unit in a closing direction. 3. A printer having a paper feeding means which can be opened and closed with respect to a main body, and which is operated by a print command from a host computer, comprising an open / close sensor for detecting an open / closed state of the paper feeding means, and a paper feeding means. At least when there is a drive unit that drives in the closing direction and a print command that does not use the paper feeding unit, and the paper feeding unit closes when the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding unit. And a control unit for operating the driving unit. 4. A printer having a paper feeding unit that can be opened and closed with respect to a main body and operated by a print command from a host computer, comprising an open / close sensor for detecting an open / closed state of the paper feeding unit, and a paper feeding unit. Drive means for driving at least the closing direction, and control means for operating the driving means in the closing direction of the paper feeding means when the open / close sensor detects the open state of the paper feeding means in the absence of the print command. A printer characterized by having.