JPH06155833A - Tape printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent clogging of a tape by stopping conveying when operation of tape switching means is detected during conveying tape with a tape conveying means. CONSTITUTION:A print tape 20 in which a both-side tape 24 is adhered to a printing surface after printing, is fed to a cutting lever 90 provided at a downstream side of a drive roller 70 and a rotary cutter 92 rotated in a direction of the arrow A of the lever 90 to be cut. The lever 90 is moved between a normal position and a cutting position, and normally set to an ON state by pressing a pin 102 of a microswitch 101. When it is moved to a cutting position, the pressing to the pin 102 is released and the pin 102 is pushed out, and the microswitch 101 is opened. Tape feeding, printing of the roller 70 are stopped by the OFF of the microswitch 101. When the cutting is ended and returned to the normal position, conveying is restarted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a tape printer of this type,
A tape printer as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 4-58367 is known. As shown in FIG. 5, the tape printer disclosed in this publication uses a push button 112 and a dial 111 provided on the upper part of the main body to input characters, symbols, etc. to be printed while looking at the character display section 113. By pressing the print button 114, printing is performed on the surface of the tape 115 while the tape is being fed, and after the printing is completed, the cutting lever 116 is manually moved to move the tape 11
5 is cut to make a tape 115 that can be attached. Various characters, symbols and the like can be stamped on the tape 115.

[0003]

However, in the tape printer disclosed in the above publication, the tape 115 can be cut during the tape feeding operation. Therefore, after inputting characters, the print button 114 is pressed. When the cutting lever 116 is moved between the start of the printing operation and the end of the printing operation, the tape 115 being printed is blocked by the cutter blade (not shown) that moves in conjunction with the cutting lever 116, and the tape 115 is removed. Occasionally, troubles such as clogging in the tape printer were caused.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to reliably eliminate clogging of a tape or the like due to the cutting operation of the tape during the feeding of the tape. The purpose of this is to prevent troubles such as a failure of the tape printing device.

[0005]

To achieve this object, a tape printer according to the present invention comprises a printing means for printing on a tape, a conveying means for conveying the printed tape to a tape outlet, and Cutting means for cutting the tape in the vicinity of the tape discharge port, detection means for detecting that the cutting means has been operated, and detection means for activating the cutting means while the tape is being conveyed by the conveying means. And a control means for stopping the transportation of the tape by the transportation means when detected.

[0006]

In the tape printer of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the printing means prints on the tape, and at the same time, the carrying means carries the printed tape to the tape discharge port. When the detecting means detects that the cutting means has been operated during the feeding of the tape, the control means stops the feeding of the tape by the feeding means.

[0007]

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

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a tape printer which is an embodiment of the present invention. On the upper surface of the main body 2 of the tape printer 1, a movable character input dial 4 is provided. Adjacent to the character input dial 4, a power switch 6, a print key 8, a group of function keys 10 for performing various controls of the tape printer 1, and a liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as a character or symbol) for inputting characters and symbols. It is called LCD) 12.

On the back surface of the main body 2, a ribbon cassette 16 containing an ink ribbon 26, which will be described later, is mounted. FIG. 3 is a view showing the inside of the ribbon cassette 16 and a drive mechanism. A printing tape spool 18 and a double-sided tape spool 22 are rotatably arranged on the ribbon cassette 16, a transparent printing tape 20 is wound around the printing tape spool 18, and a double-sided tape spool 22 is provided. Double-sided tape with release paper on one side only 2
4 is wound with the release paper on the outside. And
An ink ribbon 26 formed by applying a heat-melting ink to a base film is wound around the ribbon supply spool 28 with the ink surface inside before recording by a thermal head 48 described later, and after recording, the ribbon take-up spool. It is designed to be wound around 30.

The above-mentioned printing tape 20 is connected to the roller entrance 3 from the printing tape spool 18 via the guide shaft 32.
4, the tape feed roller 36, the tape presser 23
It is designed to penetrate through the lower slit to reach the outside. On the other hand, the ink ribbon 26 is the ribbon supply spool 2
8 through the print tape 20 and the guide shaft 32,
It reaches the roller entrance 34 while overlapping the printing tape 20, and the advancing direction is about 180 through the peeling plate 40.
It rotates so that it reaches the ribbon take-up spool 30.

The double-sided tape 24 extends from the double-sided tape spool 22 to the tape feed roller 36, and the printing tape 2
It is made to adhere to 0 and reach the outside.

A separation wall 44 is provided between the ink ribbon 26 near the roller entrance 34 and the double-sided tape 24. A thermal head insertion hole 47 is opened inside the roller entrance 34 so as to be surrounded by the ink ribbon 26 and the peripheral wall portion 46, and a thermal head 48 which is a printing means attached to the main body 2 is inserted into the insertion hole. You are allowed to enter 47.

The main body 2 is provided with a tape feed roller drive shaft 60 that fits with the tape feed roller 36 when the ribbon cassette 16 is mounted, and a ribbon take-up spool drive shaft 62 that fits with the ribbon take-up spool 30. It can be driven by a pulse motor 63 which is a conveying means.

Further, a movable platen roller 68 and a drive roller 70 are rotatably held by a roller holder 66 which is swingably supported by a swing shaft 64 fixed to the main body 2. Then, when the movable platen roller 68 and the drive roller 70 are made to enter from the roller entrance 34 by a roller release lever (not shown) for rocking the roller holder 66 around the rocking shaft 64, they are exposed at the roller entrance 34. The printing tape 20 and the ink ribbon 26 are overlapped with each other and can be sandwiched between the heating element 49 of the thermal head 48. On the other hand, on the downstream side, the drive roller 70
Are pressed against the tape feed roller 36, and the printing tape 20 is superposed and adhered to the double-sided tape 24 with the tape feed roller 36.

The printing tape 20 sent by such a mechanism is printed by the above-mentioned thermal head 48. The thermal head 48 is provided with a heating element 49 arranged at the tip thereof in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of the ink ribbon 26. In this embodiment, 48 heating elements 49 are arranged in a line, and the printing tape 20 and the ink ribbon 26 are arranged.
The heat is generated at a predetermined timing according to the feeding of.

A print drive circuit (not shown) for the heating element 49 forms dot patterns for printing in order from the left side of the vertical dot row in the matrix pattern, as if printing a normal image, as in a normal thermal printer. give. However, since the relative scanning direction of the thermal head 48 and the printing tape 20 in the tape printer 1 of the present embodiment is set to be the opposite of the scanning direction of a normal thermal printer, the tape characters formed are The print pattern is a mirror image when the print tape 20 is viewed from the print surface direction.

The double-sided tape 24 is the printing tape 20.
Since it adheres to the printing surface side, the printing surface is on the inside, and when the transparent printing tape 20 is seen through from the outside, the tape character is a normal image. In this way, the tape character becomes a normal image,
The character of the tape faces out through the printing tape 20.

After printing characters on the printing tape 20, the printing surface of which the printing surface is adhered to the double-sided tape 24 is a cutting lever 9 provided downstream of the driving roller 70.
0 and a rotary cutter 92 that rotates by swinging the cutting lever 90 in the direction of arrow A can be used for cutting.

The rotary cutter 92 has a cutter blade 92a for cutting the print tape 20 at a part thereof. The cutting lever 90, the rotary cutter 92, and the cutter blade 9
The cutting means of the present invention is constituted by 2a.

The cutting lever 90 is movable between a normal position (the position shown in FIG. 3) and a cutting position when the tape 20 is cut. A micro switch 101 as a detecting means is provided inside the cutting lever 90, and the pin 102 at the tip of the micro switch 101 is pushed in, that is, the cutting lever 90.
Is in the normal position, the micro switch 101 turns on.
Then, when the cutting lever 90 moves to the cutting position and the pin 102 is pushed out by the spring (not shown) provided inside the micro switch 101, the micro switch 101 is turned off. This micro switch 101
When the cutting lever 90 leaves the normal position and moves to the cutting position, the cutting lever 90 is turned off to stop the tape feeding operation and the printing operation.

Next, the electric system of this embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. The electronic control circuit 72 which is the control means of the present invention includes a well-known CPU 74, ROM 76, R
The AM 78 is configured as the center of a logical operation circuit, and an input / output circuit 80 for performing input / output with an external device is connected to each other through a common bus 82.

The CPU 74 inputs signals from the character input dial 4 and the function key group 10 via the input / output circuit 80, respectively. On the other hand, these signals and ROM76, RAM
Based on the data in 78, the CPU 74 causes the input / output circuit 8
The input characters and symbols are displayed on the liquid crystal display 12 via 0, and the thermal head 48 and the pulse motor 63 are also driven and controlled via the input / output circuit 80 to perform printing.

48 × 48 for printing in the ROM 76
A dot pattern of dots is stored. While the pulse motor 63 is being driven, the micro switch 101 is turned off.
When it becomes FF, that is, when the cutting lever 90 is moved to the cutting position, the CPU 74 stops the pulse motor 63 which is the conveying means through the input / output circuit 80, and at the same time, the thermal head 48 which is the printing means. Control is also interrupted and the state before printing is restored.

Next, the print control process performed in the electronic control circuit 72 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

First, the power switch 6 is turned on to perform initial setting (step 1, hereinafter referred to simply as S1. The same applies hereinafter), and the key scan of the function key group 10 and the dial scan of the character input dial 4 are performed. (S2).
When the operator inputs print data using the character input dial 4, it is determined that the character input dial 4 has been operated (S3: YES), and the print data is RA
Input processing is performed in the input buffer in M78 (S4), the result is displayed on the liquid crystal display 12, and the process returns to S2.

When the operator presses the print key 8 after inputting the print data, the CPU 74 determines that the print key 8 has been operated (S6: YES), and the input data in the RAM 78 is also stored in the RAM 78. It is expanded in the internal print buffer (S7). Then, the dot pattern developed in the print buffer is transferred to the shift register in the RAM 78 for each dot row, and the heating element 49 is heated according to the dot pattern for each dot row to perform printing (S8), and the tape feed for one dot is performed. Yes (S9). S until all the dot patterns developed in the print buffer are printed
The process of S8 and S9 is repeated (S10).

However, if the CPU 74 detects that the micro switch 101 is turned OFF by swinging the cutting lever 90 in the direction of arrow A until the end of printing (S11: YES), the CPU 74 performs thermal processing. The power supply to the head 48 and the pulse motor 63 is cut off to immediately interrupt the printing operation and the tape feeding (S14), and the process returns to S2 which is the key scan and dial scan state.

If necessary, kana / kanji conversion or the like is performed. In that case, through the process of S2, it is determined that a key related to kana / kanji conversion has been operated (S12: If YES, it is executed as another process (S1).
3).

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, when the micro switch 101 inside the cutting lever 90 is turned off, the key scan state is immediately returned, but before that, the user prints on the liquid crystal display 12 before printing. A message notifying that the cutting lever should not be operated may be displayed for a certain period of time or until a key is pressed.

Further, in this embodiment, the thermal head 48
Although the both operations are stopped when the cutting lever 90 is operated during the tape feeding operation by the pulse motor 63 in parallel with the printing operation by the above, only the tape feeding operation without the printing operation is performed. Can be applied even when is running.

Although the micro switch 101 is provided inside the cutting lever 90, it may be provided inside the rotary cutter 92.

Further, in this embodiment, the microswitch 101 is used as the detecting means, but an optical sensor or a magnetic sensor may be used.

Further, in the present embodiment, the microswitch 1
When 01 is turned off, C is input via the input / output circuit 80.
The PU 74 stopped the thermal head 48 which is a printing unit and the pulse motor 63 which is a conveying unit, but the micro switch 101 has a function of cutting off the supply of electric power to the thermal head 48 and the pulse motor 63 as it is. May be

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the tape printing apparatus of the present invention, when the cutting means is used while the tape feeding means is operating, the feeding and printing operations of the tape are forcibly stopped, so that the tape is jammed in the tape printing apparatus. It is effective in preventing the troubles of. Also, if the user of the tape printer tries to use the cutting means during the tape transportation, the tape transportation and the tape printing are stopped, so that the tape cutting means should not be used during the tape transportation. This is also valid.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric system of a tape printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the tape printer of this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the inside of the ribbon cassette and a drive mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a print control process performed in the electronic control circuit of this embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional tape printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 48 Thermal Head 63 Pulse Motor 74 CPU 90 Cutting Lever 92 Rotating Cutter 101 Micro Switch

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing unit for printing on a tape, a carrying unit for carrying the printed tape to a tape discharge port, a cutting unit for cutting the tape near the tape discharge port, and a cutting unit therefor. And a control means for stopping the transportation of the tape by the transportation means when the detection means detects the operation of the cutting means during the transportation of the tape by the transportation means. A tape printing device characterized in that 2. The tape printer according to claim 1, wherein the control means also stops printing by the printing means.