JPH05301439A - Method for controlling driving of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To certainly prevent the erroneous operation of a ribbon end detection sensor at the time of the non-mounting of a ribbon cassette without using a separate member such as a black seal in the driving control of a printer. CONSTITUTION:In a printer wherein a thermal head 5 is arranged on the carriage 4 made freely reciprocally movable along a platen 2 and a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon received therein is mounted on the upper surface of the carriage 4 in a freely detachable manner, the carriage 4 and the thermal head 5 are stopped when the terminal of the ink ribbon is detected by the ribbon end detection sensor 8 arranged to the carriage 4 and the operation of the ribbon end detection sensor 8 is stopped when it is detected that the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer drive control method, and more particularly to a printer drive control method capable of performing print control without malfunction by a ribbon end detection sensor that detects the end of an ink ribbon. ..

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows an essential part of a conventional general thermal transfer printer. A platen 2 having a flat plate shape is arranged so that its printing surface is substantially vertical to the center of a frame 1 of the printer. The carriage shaft 3 is arranged in parallel with the platen 2 below the front side of the platen 2 of the frame 1. A carriage 4 is attached to the carriage shaft 3 so as to be reciprocally movable along the carriage shaft 3, and a thermal head 5 which can be driven to come into contact with and separate from the platen 2 is attached to the carriage 4. Are arranged. A ribbon cassette (not shown) that accommodates an ink ribbon and guides the ink ribbon between the thermal head 5 and the platen 2 is mounted on the upper surface of the carriage 4. A winding bobbin 6 for winding the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette and a feeding bobbin 7 for feeding the ink ribbon are arranged on the upper surface. Further, a ribbon end detection sensor 8 is provided on the upper surface of the carriage 4 on the upstream side of the thermal head 5 in the running path of the ink ribbon, and the ribbon cassette is charged on the upper surface of the carriage 4. A shield plate 9 made of metal or the like for preventing the above is disposed.

A drive pulley 10 and a driven pulley 11 are arranged on both sides of the frame 1, and end portions of the drive pulley 10 and the driven pulley 11 are connected to the lower surface of the carriage 4. The drive belt 12 is stretched around. A rotary gear 13 that is rotationally driven by a carriage drive motor (not shown) is meshed with the drive pulley 10. The carriage 4 is driven by driving the carriage drive motor to rotate the drive pulley 10. It is adapted to be reciprocally driven along the platen 2.

Below the platen 2, there is arranged a paper feed roller 14 for carrying a sheet (not shown) between the platen 2 and the thermal head 5, and below the paper feed roller 14. A pressure contact roller 15 that is in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 14 is rotatably arranged in the paper. Then, by rotating the paper feed roller 14, the paper inserted between the paper feed roller 14 and the pressure contact roller 15 is nipped and conveyed.

In the conventional printer, a predetermined sheet of paper is sandwiched between the paper feed roller 14 and the pressure contact roller 15, and the paper feed roller 14 is driven to rotate so that the paper is moved in the moving direction of the carriage 4. It is conveyed at a predetermined speed in the orthogonal direction. On the other hand, the thermal head 5 is brought into pressure contact with the paper with a predetermined pressure contact force, and in this state, the carriage drive motor is driven to move the carriage 4 via the drive pulley 10 and the drive belt 12, and at the same time, the winding is performed. While the take-up bobbin 6 is rotated to wind up the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette, the thermal head 5 is driven based on a desired print signal to perform desired printing on the paper.

And, conventionally, without using an ink ribbon,
Printing may be performed directly on the thermal paper, but in such a case, since the ribbon cassette is not attached to the carriage 4 and the shield plate 9 of the carriage 4 is exposed,
The light reflected by the shield plate 9 is applied to the ribbon end detection sensor 8, and the ribbon end detection sensor 8 may erroneously detect that the ink ribbon has ended, which makes it impossible to perform printing. ..

Therefore, conventionally, a black seal 16 is attached to the shield plate 9 of the carriage 4 near the ribbon end detection sensor 8 to prevent malfunction of the ribbon end detection sensor 8 due to irregular reflection of the shield plate 9. It is done like this.

[0008]

However, in such a conventional thermal transfer printer, since the black seal 16 is attached to the shield plate 9 to prevent the malfunction of the ribbon end detection sensor 8, This leads to an increase in the number of cells, moreover, a sticking work is required, and the number of manufacturing steps is increased, so that there is a problem that the manufacturing is troublesome and the manufacturing cost becomes high.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a printer capable of reliably preventing a malfunction of a ribbon end detection sensor when a ribbon cassette is not mounted without using a separate member such as a black seal. An object of the present invention is to provide a drive control method.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer drive control method according to the present invention provides a thermal head on a carriage that can reciprocate along a platen, and has an upper surface of the carriage. When the end of the ink ribbon is detected by the ribbon end detection sensor provided in the carriage of the printer in which the ribbon cassette in which the ink ribbon is housed is detachably mounted, the carriage and the thermal head are In the drive control method of the printer for controlling the stop, the ribbon end detection sensor is not operated when it is detected that the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage.

[0011]

According to the present invention, the ribbon end detection sensor is prevented from operating when it is detected that the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage, such as when printing directly on thermal paper without using an ink ribbon. Therefore, the ribbon end detection sensor does not malfunction even when reflection occurs due to the shield plate disposed on the carriage, and proper printing on thermal paper or the like can be performed.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a control device for carrying out a printer drive control method according to the present invention. A control circuit 17 composed of a CPU or the like includes a carriage drive motor 18 for reciprocating a carriage. The control circuit 17 outputs the control signals to the thermal head 5, the contact / separation operation of the thermal head 5, the head contact / separation for rotating the winding bobbin for winding the ink ribbon, and the winding motor 19. Includes a ribbon end detection sensor 8 for detecting the end of the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette.
And the detection signal of the cassette detection switch 20 which is turned on and off according to the type of ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the cassette detection switch 20 is turned on and off to detect that the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, and to determine the type of ink ribbon contained in the ribbon cassette. The head contacting / separating / winding motor 19 is driven based on the detection signal of the cassette, and, for example, when an ink ribbon for peeling at the time of heat is accommodated, the thermal head 5 is strongly pressed against the platen. When the ink ribbon for cold peeling is housed, it is driven so as to be brought into pressure contact with a weak pressure contact force. Then, in this state, the carriage drive motor 18 is driven to move the carriage while driving the thermal head 5 based on a predetermined print signal, thereby performing desired printing on the paper.

When the ribbon end detection sensor 8 detects the end marker formed at the end of the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette, the control circuit 17 stops the drive of the carriage drive motor 18 and the thermal head 5 for printing. To stop. After that, after replacing the ribbon cassette, the carriage drive motor 18 and the thermal head 5 are driven again to continue printing.

On the other hand, when printing directly on the thermal paper without using the ink ribbon, the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage, so that the cassette detection switch 20 is
All are off, and by the control circuit 17,
When it is detected that the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage based on the output signal of the cassette detection switch 20, the operation of the ribbon end detection sensor 8 is stopped. Therefore, when the ribbon cassette is not attached, the shield plate on the carriage is exposed and reflection may occur due to this shield plate. However, in the present embodiment, the ribbon end detection sensor 8 operates. Since it does not, malfunction does not occur.

Therefore, in this embodiment, since the ribbon end detection sensor 8 is not operated when the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage, the ribbon end detection is performed even when the reflection by the shield plate of the carriage occurs. Proper printing can be performed on the thermal paper without the sensor 8 malfunctioning. Moreover, since a seal or the like is not provided as in the conventional case, the number of parts can be reduced, the sticking work of the seal is unnecessary, and the manufacturing can be performed easily and inexpensively.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as necessary.

[0020]

As described above, in the printer drive control method according to the present invention, the ribbon end detection sensor is not operated when the ribbon cassette is not mounted on the carriage. Even if occurs, the ribbon end detection sensor does not malfunction, and proper printing on the thermal paper can be performed. Moreover, since a seal or the like is not provided unlike the conventional case, the number of parts can be reduced,
There is an effect that the sticking work of the seal becomes unnecessary and the manufacturing can be performed easily and at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control device for carrying out a printer drive control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a ribbon detection method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view showing a conventional general thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Thermal head 8 Ribbon end detection sensor 17 Control circuit 18 Carriage drive motor 19 Head contact / separation / winding motor 20 Cassette detection switch

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer comprising a thermal head arranged on a carriage reciprocally movable along a platen, and a ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon housed inside the carriage is detachably mounted on the upper surface of the carriage. In a printer drive control method for controlling the carriage and the thermal head to stop when the end of the ink ribbon is detected by a ribbon end detection sensor provided in the carriage, a ribbon cassette is attached to the carriage. A drive control method for a printer, characterized in that the ribbon end detection sensor is not operated when it is detected that the printer is not present.