JPH0538868A - Color printer and controlling method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To leave no color line unused in a color ribbon and to make the best use of the color ribbon by providing a function which makes all of the lines in the same color usable when there are two or more lines in the same color in color arrangement of the color ribbon. CONSTITUTION:At the time when a command is received for the first time with a command receiving means 1, a color in a ribbon specified by a positioning means 2 is positioned to a printing head, and on and after the second command reception with the command receiving means 1, a judging means 3 judges whether or not the ribbon exists in a position below a line on which the printing head is positioned at present. In the case where the ribbon exists, the judging means 3 judges whether or not the color in the line of the ribbon within the printing head is the same as that in one line below the ribbon within the printing head. When the colors are different, a second moving means 5 moves the ribbon to the uppermost line in the color same as that of the line of the ribbon within the printing head, while in the case where the colors are the same, a first moving means 4 moves the ribbon positioned one line below the one within the printing head, and then printing is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer control system, and more particularly to a color ribbon control system for a printer using a color ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional color printer control system will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a color arrangement when all colors of the color ribbon of the color printer are different, and FIG. 4 shows a color arrangement when the color ribbon of the color printer has only two colors, one line of red and three lines of black. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a process of a control method of a conventional color printer.

A conventional printer control system is shown in FIGS.
As shown in, the color ribbon has ribbons of various colors, but since it was controlled without the color relationship of the ribbon,
When the print command is accepted, the ribbon on the specified line is positioned and printed on the print head.

Next, the processing of the control method of the conventional color printer will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 5, when the command is accepted, the print head is positioned on the line of the ribbon of the designated color (step 21), the print head prints (step 22), and the process is completed.

Therefore, even if there are two or more lines of the same color in the color ribbon, as in the case of FIG. 4, only one line is used.

[0008]

As described above, in the conventional color printer control method, the print command is controlled because the ribbon of the specified line is positioned in the print head regardless of the color arrangement of the ribbon. If accepted,
Unconditionally positioned the designated row of ribbons in the printhead. Therefore, if there are lines of the same color on the ribbon, only one line of the same color is used for printing, so the lines other than the one line of the same color will be wasted without being used and will be wasted. Has the drawback of being short.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks by using a color ribbon by having a function of using all lines of the same color when the color ribbon has two or more lines of the same color. It is an object of the present invention to provide a color printer control method and a color printer that can eliminate the number of unused rows and can be used without waste and at the same time can extend the life of the color ribbon.

[0010]

A color printer control system according to a first aspect of the present invention is a printer which prints by a print head while switching a color ribbon to a line of a designated color, when a first print command is accepted. Positions the ribbon of the color specified by the print command on the print head, and when the print command is received for the second time or later, determines whether there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located. If there is no ribbon, move the ribbon so that it is positioned on the top row of the same color row as the color of the ribbon row on which the print head is currently located, and place it below the row where the print head is currently located. If there is a ribbon in, the color of the row of the ribbon where the print head is currently positioned is the same as the color one row below the ribbon where the print head is currently positioned. If they are different, Move the ribbon so that the print head is positioned on the top row of the same color row as the color of the ribbon row on which the print head is currently located. If the color one line below the ribbon being positioned is the same, the ribbon is moved so that the print head is positioned one line below the currently positioned ribbon, and printing is performed by the print head.

The color printer of the second invention is a color printer which prints with a print head while switching a color ribbon to a line of a specified color, and when the first print command is received, the ribbon is changed to a line of the specified color. The positioning means for positioning, the judging means for judging whether or not the color of the ribbon where the print head is currently positioned and the color of the ribbon one row below where the print head is currently positioned are the same color when the second and subsequent print command requests are received. When the color of the ribbon where the head is currently positioned is the same as the color of the ribbon one line below where the current position is, move the ribbon so that it is one line below the line where the print head is currently positioned. If there is no ribbon below the line where the print head is currently positioned, the print head is moved to the top line of the same color as the line where the print head is currently positioned. When the first print command is received, the ribbon of the color designated by the print command is positioned on the print head by the positioning means and the print command is issued after the second time. If accepted, the determining means determines whether or not there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located.If there is no ribbon, the second moving means is used and the print head is currently positioned. If there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is located, the determining means determines whether the color of the line of the ribbon where the print head is currently located is the same color as the color of the line below the ribbon where the print head is currently located. However, if the color under one line is different,
When the second moving means is used and the color one line below is the same, the first moving means is used to position the ribbon designated by the print command on the print head, and the print head prints.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing processing of a control system of the color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a color arrangement in the case of different colors, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a color arrangement in the case where the color ribbon of the color printer has only two colors, one row of red and three rows of black.

Referring to FIG. 1, the color printer of this embodiment includes a command receiving means 1 for receiving a print command,
Positioning means 2 for positioning the ribbon on the line of the specified color when the first print command is received, and the color of the ribbon and the current position of the ribbon for which the print head is currently positioned at the second and subsequent print command requests. When the color of the ribbon on which the print head is currently positioned is the same as the color of the ribbon on which the print head is currently positioned, the determination means 3 for determining whether the color of the ribbon below the line is the same color First moving means 4 for moving the ribbon so as to move one line down from the line where the print head is positioned, and the line where the print head is currently positioned when there is no ribbon below the line where the print head is currently positioned. The second moving means 5 moves the ribbon so that the ribbon is located at the uppermost row of the same color as the color.

Next, the processing of the color printer control system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2, command receiving means 1
When the first command is received by the positioning means 2
The color of the ribbon designated by the print command is positioned on the print head (step 11), the print head prints (step 12), and the process ends. When the command receiving means 1 receives a command after the second time, the judging means 3 judges whether or not there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located (step 13), and the ribbon is If not (step 13, No), the second moving means 5 moves the ribbon so that the print head is positioned on the uppermost row of the same color row as the color of the ribbon row on which the print head is currently located (step 13). 17) Then, printing is performed by the print head, and the process ends (step 16).

If there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located (step 13, Yes), the color of the line of the ribbon where the print head is currently located and the ribbon where the print head is currently located. It is judged whether or not the color one row below is the same color (step 14), and if the colors are different (step 14, No), the color of the row of the ribbon on which the print head is currently positioned by the second moving means 5 is determined. The ribbon is moved so as to be positioned at the uppermost line of the same color line (step 17), the printing is performed by the print head, and the process ends (step 16).

When the color of the row of the ribbon on which the print head is currently positioned is the same as the color one row below the ribbon on which the print head is currently positioned (Yes in step 14), printing is performed by the first moving means 4. The ribbon is moved so that the head is positioned one line below the ribbon at which it is currently located (step 15), the print head prints, and the process ends (step 16).

By this processing, as shown in FIG. 4, when there are two or more lines of the same color in the color ribbon, all lines of the same color are used.

[0020]

As described above, the control method of the color printer and the color printer of the present invention have the function of using all the rows of the same color when the color ribbon has two or more rows of the same color. With this, there is an advantage that the unused rows of the color ribbon can be eliminated and the color ribbon can be used without waste, and at the same time, the life of the color ribbon can be extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of a color printer control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a color arrangement when all colors of a color ribbon of a color printer are different.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a color arrangement in the case where the color ribbon of the color printer has only two colors, one line is red and three lines are black.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of a control method of a conventional color printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Command Accepting Means 2 Positioning Means 3 Judging Means 4 First Moving Means 5 Second Moving Means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a control method of a color printer that prints by a print head while switching a color ribbon to a line of a specified color, when a first print command is accepted, the ribbon of the color specified by the print command is received. Is positioned on the print head, and when a print command is received from the second time onward, it is determined whether or not there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently positioned. When the ribbon is moved so that the print head is located at the top row of the same color row as the row of the ribbon where the print head is currently located, and there is a ribbon below the row where the print head is currently located. Determines whether the color of the row of the ribbon on which the print head is currently located and the color one row below the ribbon on which the print head is currently located are the same color. The ribbon is moved so that the print head is positioned at the top row of the same color row as the color of the row of the ribbon where the print head is currently located, and the color of the row of the ribbon where the print head is currently located and If the color of the ribbon on which the print head is currently located is one row below, the ribbon is moved so that the print head is located one row below the ribbon on which the print head is currently located, and printing is performed by the print head. A color printer control method characterized by: 2. A color printer that prints with a print head while switching a color ribbon to a line of a specified color, and positioning means for positioning the ribbon to the line of the specified color when a first print command is received, and a second time. When a subsequent print command request arrives, the print head has the current position and the determination means for determining whether the color of the ribbon at which the print head is currently positioned is the same as the color of the ribbon one line below at the current position. When the color of the ribbon being positioned is the same as the color of the ribbon positioned one line below the current position, the first moving means for moving the ribbon so as to be one line below the line where the print head is currently positioned. , If there is no ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located, move the ribbon so that it is the top line of the same color as the line where the print head is currently located. When the first print command is received, the ribbon of the color designated by the print command is positioned on the print head by the positioning means, and the second and subsequent printing operations are performed. When the command is accepted, the determining means determines whether or not there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located. When the ribbon is not present, the second moving means is used. If there is a ribbon below the line where the print head is currently located, the color of the line of the ribbon where the print head is currently located and the ribbon where the print head is currently located by the judging means. It is determined whether or not the color one line below is the same color, and when the color one line below is different, the second moving means is used, and when the color one line below is the same, the first moving means is used. Using Positioning the ribbon designated by the letter command to the print head, a color printer, characterized by printing with the print head.