JPH054435A - Control method of winding force of ink ribbon in transfer type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the control method of the winding force of an ink ribbon, which can keep the winding force of the ink ribbon constant at all times without conducting complicate control and can prevent defective printing resulting from the variation of the winding force of the ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:A sensor unit detecting a specified cuing mark KY in an ink ribbon 4 is installed, a time until the sensor unit 10 outputs a detecting signal after the completion of the printing of one page of printing paper is counted by a time counter 11 while a time required for completely printing the difference section of data length is arithmetically operated from the difference of the actual data length of printing data and specified data length at the time of printing extending over all lines of one page, and the count value of the time counter is corrected by the time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon winding force control method in a transfer printer such as a thermal printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a structure around a head of a color thermal printer. In the figure, 1 is a line type thermal head having a large number of heating elements, 2 is a platen, 3 is a pressing roller, 4 is an ink ribbon, 5 is an ink ribbon roll (ribbon supply side roll), and 6 is an ink ribbon winding. A take-up roll, 7 is a DC motor for driving the take-up roll, 7 and 8 are ink ribbon guide rolls, and 9 is a printing paper. As shown in FIG. 4, the ink ribbon 4 is coated with hot-melt inks of yellow Y, magenta M, and cyan C. K is a boundary between each color region, black cue mark K _Y, K _M, K _C is provided in each.

For example, print data transmitted from a personal computer is temporarily stored for each color in a frame memory of a printer controller (not shown), and when print data for one page of the printing paper 9 is stored in the frame memory,
The print data is read from the frame memory, converted into a format suitable for the printer, and then sent to the thermal head 1 to heat the heating element corresponding to the print data. The heat-melting ink of the ink ribbon 4 is melted by the heated heating element and transferred onto the printing paper 9.
The color region of the ink ribbon 4 passes under the thermal head in the order of Y region → M region → C region, and color overprinting is performed on the printing paper 9.

[0004]

Since the ink ribbon 4 is wound around the winding roll 6, the diameter of the winding roll 6 gradually increases, but the diameter D which drives the winding roll 6 is increased.
Conventionally, the C motor 7 simply applies a constant voltage,
Since the winding force of the ink ribbon 4 is not controlled, there is a problem that when the diameter of the winding roll 6 is increased, the winding force is reduced and a dot deviation of print dots occurs.

The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and the winding force of the ink ribbon can always be kept constant without performing complicated control. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon winding force control method that can prevent defective printing due to the ink ribbon.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is used in a transfer type printer, and is a three-color or four-color ink which is passed from a supply-side roll under a print head to be wound up on a winding roll. By using a predetermined cue mark in the ribbon, the time taken for the ink ribbon to move a predetermined distance is detected, and the deviation of this time from the time (set time) of moving the predetermined distance at the predetermined speed is eliminated. The motor for driving the winding roll is controlled.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a sensor unit for detecting a predetermined cueing mark in the ink ribbon is provided, and the time from the completion of printing one page of printing paper until the sensor unit outputs a detection signal is counted by a time counter. At the same time, the time required to finish printing the difference in the data length is calculated from the difference between the actual data length of the print data and the predetermined data length at the time of printing over all the lines of one page, and this time is the above time. It is configured to correct the count value of the counter.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a predetermined cueing mark in the ink ribbon has a wide width, the widthwise starting point of the cueing mark passes through a predetermined position and then the widthwise end point passes through the predetermined position. The time to be counted is counted, and the motor for driving the winding roll is controlled so that there is no difference between this count value and the set time.

[0009]

In the present invention, the cue mark of the ink ribbon is used to detect the time taken for the ink ribbon to move a predetermined distance, so that this time does not deviate from the time it takes to move the predetermined distance at the predetermined speed. Since the winding roll driving motor is controlled, this is a simple control method, but the ink ribbon winding force is always constant.

[0010]

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

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 10 is a sensor unit, and as shown in FIG.
10B, and is disposed in the vicinity of the guide roll 6 with the detection surface facing the ink ribbon 5 side. Reference numeral 11 is a time counter, 12 is a motor control device for the DC motor 7, and 13 is a printer control device.

The ink ribbon 4 which has passed through the thermal head 1 passes through the sensor unit 10 and the guide roll 4 and is wound around the winding roll 6. The ink ribbon 4 has a sensor 10A in the order of Y region → M region → C region → boundary K, Y region → M region → C region → boundary K ... Y region → M region → C region → boundary K. Pass in front of 10B. The sensors 10A and 10B of the sensor unit 10 output detection signals when detecting the cue marks K _Y , K _M and K _C in FIG. When the CPU in the printer controller 13 finishes printing one page on the printing paper 9, it generates a signal indicating that the printing for one page is finished, and stores the print data for the next page in the frame memory. The time counter 11
A signal indicating that printing of pages has been completed is received as a timing signal c, and counting is started. After the time counter 11 receives this timing signal c, the sensors 10A, 10B
Counting is stopped when the detection signal from is received through the AND element. The detection surface of the sensor unit 10 is a cue mark K
_{Even if M} and K _C pass, the AND element does not output. Also,
When the time counter 11 receives the timing signal c, it is reset and starts the above counting. The CPU of the printer controller 13 controls the data length of the print data and all the lines on the above page (see FIG. 3).
The position Δt required to finish printing the difference in the data length is calculated from the difference between the data length at the time of printing and the data length at the time of printing (X _N ). If not, for example, if it ends at the position indicated by X _K in FIG. 3, the time T is corrected by Δt and T-Δt is output, and the motor controller 12 sets this (T-Δt) and the set time. The voltage of the DC motor 7 is controlled so that the difference ΔT with To = To− (T−Δt) becomes zero. Thus, in this embodiment,
Using a specific cue mark K _Y in the ink ribbon 4,
The time from the end of printing one page to the detection of this specific cueing mark K _Y by the sensor unit 10 is detected, and the voltage of the DC motor 7 is controlled so that this time becomes constant. The winding force of the ink ribbon 4 does not change even if the winding diameter of the take-up roll 6 increases.

Further, in this embodiment, since the cue mark peculiar to the ink ribbon 4 is used, the above effect can be obtained by a simple control means, and its practicality is extremely high.

When the cue mark K _Y in the Y area has a large width as shown in FIG. 4, the sensors 10A, 1
The time counter 11 counts the time until 0B detects the beginning of the cue mark K _Y and outputs a detection signal, and detects the end of the cue mark K _Y and disappears the detection signal. The voltage of the DC motor 7 may be controlled so that the difference ΔT between the numerical value and the set time To becomes zero.

Further, by processing the detection signals from the sensors 10A and 10B, it is possible to detect the end of the C area and the beginning of the cue mark K _Y , and from the end of the C area to the beginning of the cue mark K _Y. The voltage of the DC motor 7 may be controlled so that the difference between the time and the set time becomes zero.

In the above embodiment, the case of the three color ink ribbons of Y, M and C has been described, but the same applies to the case of the four color ink ribbons of Y, M, C and black Bk.

[0017]

As described above, the present invention detects the time when the ink ribbon moves a predetermined distance by using the cue mark of the ink ribbon, and the time when the ink ribbon moves the predetermined distance at the predetermined speed. Since the take-up roll driving motor is controlled so as to eliminate the misalignment with respect to the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon take-up force can always be kept constant, and the print deviation due to the change in the ink ribbon take-up force can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the vicinity of a thermal head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a control system in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of an ink ribbon.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of an ink ribbon.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the area around the head of a conventional thermal printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 thermal head 4 ink ribbon 5 Supply side roll 6 Roll on the winding side 7 DC motor 10 sensor unit 11 hour counter 12 Motor control device 13 Printer control device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink using a predetermined cueing mark in a three-color or four-color ink ribbon which is used in a transfer printer and which is wound from a supply-side roll under a print head to a winding roll. The time for the ribbon to move a predetermined distance is detected, and the motor for driving the winding roll is controlled so that there is no deviation of this time from the time for moving the predetermined distance at a predetermined speed (set time). And a method for controlling the winding force of an ink ribbon in a transfer printer. 2. A sensor unit for detecting a predetermined cueing mark in the ink ribbon is provided, and a time counter counts the time from the completion of printing one page of printing paper until the sensor unit outputs a detection signal. The time required to finish printing the difference in the data length is calculated from the difference between the actual data length of the print data and the predetermined data length at the time of printing over all the lines on one page, and at this time, the time counter is counted. The method of controlling the winding force of an ink ribbon in a transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the numerical value is corrected. 3. When a predetermined cueing mark in the ink ribbon has a wide width, the time from when the widthwise starting point of the cueing mark passes a predetermined position to when the widthwise ending point passes the predetermined position. 2. The method of controlling the winding force of an ink ribbon in a transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the motor for driving the winding roll is controlled so that the difference between the counted value and the set time is eliminated.