JPH0550640A - Thermal transfer printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain excellent print quality by detecting type of ink ribbon to be used automatically and printing at optimum printing speed. CONSTITUTION:When a means to be detected 4 is not provided in a conventional low speed ribbon and it is provided in a newly developed high speed ribbon, in the case that the high speed ribbon is mounted on a carriage 3, light emitted from an optical sensor 5 is reflected by the means to be detected 4 arranged on a bottom face of an ink ribbon cassette 1 and is returned to a light receiving unit of the optical sensor 5. However, since the means to be detected 4 is not provided in the case of the low speed ribbon, the emitted light is not returned to the optical sensor 5. Accordingly, detection of the high speed ribbon or the low speed ribbon will be easy.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for printing documents and the like, and more particularly to means for automatically changing the printing speed and the amount of energy applied to the print head depending on the type of ink ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional document editing apparatus such as a Japanese word processor, a thermal transfer printer is used to print a created document. The thermal transfer printer applies heat to melt an ink ribbon. In order to obtain good print quality and uniform print density, (1)
History correction to control the energization time of the print data this time.

(2) A temperature table memory in which the amount of heat energy applied to the head of the thermal transfer printer is stored in advance for each ambient temperature, the ambient temperature is taken in by a temperature sensor such as a thermistor at the time of printing, and print data is energized according to the ambient temperature. Temperature compensation to control the time.

And so on.

However, since thermal transfer printers undergo rapid technological innovation in speed and definition, they have the following problems in obtaining good print quality.

(A) With the increase in speed of the thermal transfer printer,
It is necessary to develop an ink ribbon that can be melted in a short time (hereinafter referred to as high-speed ribbon). However, there are conventional ink ribbons (hereinafter, referred to as low speed ribbons) in the market that require a long energization time until melting, and the low speed ribbon cannot obtain a satisfactory print density in a short energization time.

(B) In general, various color ribbons other than black are prepared as usable ink ribbons, but it is not possible to develop all high-speed ribbon colors in synchronization with the speedup of the thermal transfer printer. difficult. Therefore, it is necessary to use conventional low speed ribbons for some ink ribbons.

In order to solve these problems, conventionally, there is a mode in which the energization time of print data is short and high-speed printing is possible.
There are two modes in which the energization time of print data can be increased but the printing speed is slowed accordingly, and the energization corrections of (1) and (2) are added for each mode. However, the mode selection is left to the user by displaying the condition on the screen of a document editing device such as a Japanese word processor at the time of printing.

[0009]

By the way, in order to be able to use both a high speed ribbon and a low speed ribbon, the ink ribbon cassette must basically have the same outer shape. As a result, there is a drawback in that it is difficult for the user to determine which ink ribbon is which because there is no distinguishing means other than the name written on the surface of the ink ribbon cassette. Then, it is troublesome that the printing speed has to be set again by judging which ink ribbon is used for each ink ribbon.

If the user does not reset the print speed or prints without knowing it, desired print quality cannot be obtained. As a result, there is a problem that printing is performed again, resulting in loss of time and cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an excellent print quality by automatically detecting the type of ink ribbon to be used in a thermal transfer printer and printing at an optimum printing speed.

[0012]

In order to print a document with good print quality, it is necessary to detect whether the ink ribbon mounted on the carriage is a high-speed ribbon or a low-speed ribbon and select an optimum print mode. is there.

To this end, in one of the ink ribbons, a detection means such as silver paper is provided on the lower surface of the ink ribbon cassette,
On the contrary, the other ink ribbon is not provided with the detection target means. Next, an optical sensor for emitting and receiving light was provided on the carriage corresponding to the detected means.

Further, means for changing the printing speed by the output of the optical sensor and means for changing the thermal energy (energization time) applied to the print head are provided.

[0015]

When one of the ink ribbons is mounted on the carriage, the light emitted from the optical sensor is reflected by the detection means on the lower surface of the ink ribbon cassette and returned to the light receiving portion of the optical sensor. However, in the case of the other ink ribbon, since the means to be detected is not provided, the emitted light does not return to the optical sensor. Therefore, it is possible to detect whether the ribbon is a high speed ribbon or a low speed ribbon.

Next, when it is determined that the ribbon is a high speed ribbon, the means for changing the printing speed causes the carriage to reciprocate along the platen at a high speed, and at the same time, the means for changing the energy shortens the energization time of the print data. .. When it is determined that the ribbon is a low speed ribbon, the setting reverse to the above is performed, so that printing is performed at an optimum printing speed, and good printing quality is obtained.

[0017]

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

FIG. 1 is a principle view of ink ribbon detection of a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is an ink ribbon cassette, 2 is a print head, 3 is a print head 2 and an ink ribbon cassette 1 is reciprocated. A moving carriage 4, a detection means such as silver paper provided for distinguishing a high speed ribbon from a low speed ribbon, and 5 an ink ribbon cassette 1
Is an optical sensor for detecting the detected means 4. Optical sensor 5
Since it detects whether the detected means 4 is present in the ink ribbon cassette 1, it is installed on the carriage 3 facing the detected means 4.

Thereafter, the conventional low speed ribbon has a means 4 to be detected.
The description will be given under the condition that the detected means 4 is provided on the newly developed high-speed ribbon without providing the above, but the opposite is naturally possible.

When a high-speed ribbon is mounted on the carriage 3, the light emitted from the optical sensor 5 is reflected by the detection means 4 on the lower surface of the ink ribbon cassette 1, and the optical sensor 5
Is returned to the light receiving part of. However, in the case of the low-speed ribbon, since the detection target means 4 is not provided, the irradiated light is not returned to the optical sensor 5. Therefore, it is possible to easily detect whether the ribbon is a high speed ribbon or a low speed ribbon.

Next, the actual printing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a thermal transfer printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart at the time of printing. Here, 6 is a CPU which is a central processing unit, 7 is a system memory which stores an instruction program and the like of the present thermal transfer printer device, and 8 is an amount of energy applied to the print head 2 of the thermal transfer printer 15 during high speed printing. A high speed compatible heat table, 9 is a low speed compatible heat table that stores the amount of energy applied to the print head 2 of the thermal transfer printer 15 during low speed printing, and 10 is a table switch that selects the heat table memory 8 or 9 to be used during printing. , 11 are print data and print head 2 from the CPU 1.
The thermal control circuit for receiving the amount of energy applied to the head and controlling the energization time per dot, 12 is a head driver for supplying a current to the head, 13 is the motor 16 based on the command of the CPU 1, and is the output of the optical sensor 5. An IO control circuit for reading, 14 is a motor driver for driving a motor of the thermal transfer printer 15, 15 is a thermal transfer printer, 16 is a motor for reciprocating the carriage 3 and paper feeding, and 16 is a document editing device such as a word processor (not shown). It is a buffer memory for storing the received print data.

When a print command is received from a document editing device such as a Japanese word processor, the CPU 1 first reads the output of the optical sensor 5 via the IO control circuit 13. Then, the type of the ink ribbon 1 mounted on the carriage 3 of the thermal transfer printer 15 is determined from the data. Next, the ink ribbon 1
Is a high speed ribbon, the table switch 10 is switched to the high speed compatible heat table 8 side to call the heat table and transfer it to the heat control circuit 11. Conversely, when the ink ribbon 1 is a low speed ribbon, the table switch 10 is switched to the low speed compatible heat table 9 side to call the heat table, and the heat control circuit 11
Transfer to. Then, the print data is received from the document editing device such as a Japanese word processor and temporarily stored in the buffer memory.

When printing on the thermal transfer printer 15, the print head 2 needs to be moved in one direction, so that the CPU 6 rotates the motor 16 via the motor driver 14 as necessary. Here, although it is necessary to change the speed at which the motor 16 is driven according to the type of the ink ribbon 1, the program related to this switching is stored in the program memory 7. Then, the CPU 6 transfers the print data of one dot row to be printed on the thermal transfer printer 15 from the buffer memory 17 to the thermal control circuit 11. The thermal control circuit 11 determines the pulse width of the current flowing through the print head 2 of the printer 15 based on the contents of the thermal table and the print data that have been sent, and energizes the thermal transfer printer 15 via the head driver 12. This series of operations is repeated until printing is completed. According to the present invention, it is possible to detect automatically without changing the shape of the ink ribbon cassette, perform printing at an optimum printing speed, and obtain good printing quality.

[0024]

According to the present invention, it is possible to automatically determine whether an ink ribbon which can be printed at high speed or an ink ribbon which can be printed only at low speed can be printed simply by mounting the ink ribbon on the carriage. Good print quality can be obtained without the user's attention.

Further, when the user sets the printing speed as in the conventional case, if he prints without noticing it, he cannot print the desired print quality and must print again. According to the invention, there is no need for it, so that time and cost can be saved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram of ink ribbon detection in a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Ink ribbon, 3 ... Carriage, 4 ... Detected means,
5 ... Optical sensor, 8 ... High speed compatible thermal table, 9 ... Low speed compatible thermal table, 10 ... Table switch, 15 ... Thermal transfer printer.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 35/28 7318-2C 8804-2C B41J 29/00 U

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A carriage having a print head and an ink ribbon at least reciprocating along a platen,
In a thermal transfer printer device for printing on a sheet supported between the platen and a print head, on the ink ribbon facing the means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon on the carriage and the means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon. 2. A thermal transfer printer device comprising: means for detecting; a means for changing a printing speed according to a signal from the means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon; and a means for changing heat energy applied to the print head. 2. A thermal transfer printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon is an optical sensor, and the detected means is a means for reflecting the output of the optical sensor. 3. At least a plurality of types of ink ribbons having different melting times can be used, and a print head and a carriage on which the ink ribbon is mounted are reciprocally moved along a platen, and between the platen and the print head. In a thermal transfer printer for printing on a supported paper, there are provided means for detecting the type of ink ribbon on the carriage, means for detecting only an ink ribbon of a certain type, and means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon. A thermal transfer printer device comprising means for changing a printing speed according to a signal and means for changing a thermal energy applied to the print head. 4. The thermal transfer printer device according to claim 3, wherein the means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon is an optical sensor, and the detected means is a means for reflecting the output of the optical sensor.