JPH06247021A - Transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To immediately detect occurrence of paper jamming and the like by providing a means for judging an ink ribbon winding failure and conducting an error processing when a drive indication amount is increased to a present upper limit drive indication amount or more. CONSTITUTION:When a present input level is equal to a previous input level, t1 is added to a value of a ribbon winding failure counter, and whether the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter is equal to a present ribbon winding failure value is judged. If the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter is not equal to the preset ribbon winding failure value, a ribbon motor drive processing is terminated. If the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter is equal to the preset ribbon winding failure value, actions of a ribbon motor and other various drive parts are brought to a stop, a ribbon winding failure processing, such as a ribbon winding failure informing, is conducted, and the processing is led to an error termination. In addition, cut-form paper and continuous paper can be used as paper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer printer having a thermal head, for example, which prints on a sheet by using an ink ribbon with the thermal head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional transfer type printer, for example, when a continuous paper having markers printed on its back surface at predetermined intervals is used as a paper, a paper sensor for detecting the marker is provided, It is known that when a marker is detected by this paper sensor, the paper is conveyed by a preset distance to be positioned at a print position, and the paper positioned at this print position is printed.

It is also known to detect a paper jam by the above-mentioned paper sensor. That is, since the marker is detected by the paper sensor, it is detected that the position of the marker has not moved if the detection level of the paper sensor does not change for a long time even though the paper is being conveyed by the platen or the like. This indicates that the paper is not conveyed properly, and it is determined that a paper jam has occurred.

Further, in the conventional transfer type printer, when a cut sheet is used, it is known that a sheet sensor is provided on the side for supplying to the print head and the side for discharging from the print head to the outside of the apparatus. Has been.

In such a transfer type printer, when the paper sensor on the supply side detects the leading edge of the paper, the paper is conveyed by the distance between the paper sensor on the supply side and the print head to perform printing. Was becoming. After printing is completed, the printed paper is ejected, and at this time, if the paper cannot be detected by the paper sensor on the ejection side even if the paper is ejected by the specified amount, it is determined that a paper jam has occurred. is there.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional transfer type printer, the paper sensor is used to detect the paper jam. Therefore, for example, a continuous paper having no marker printed on its back surface is used as the paper. When it is used, there is a problem that it is not possible to detect the conveyance state of the paper, and therefore it is not possible to detect the paper jam.

Further, even when continuous paper or single-cut paper is used as the paper, the paper sensor is generally not arranged in the vicinity of the print head, so that the paper jam is detected from the change in the detection level of the paper sensor. Then, it is not possible to detect the transport state of the paper near the print head. Therefore, when a paper jam occurs near the print head, particularly when a paper jam occurs during the printing operation, the detection of the paper jam is delayed, and the paper is conveyed in the jam state during that time. As a result, there is a problem in that the ink ribbon is cut off or an obstacle such as the ink ribbon or the paper is wound around the platen occurs, and the paper jam becomes worse and the recovery thereof becomes difficult.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to promptly detect the occurrence of a paper jam or the like by detecting the conveyance state of the ink ribbon, and therefore, to prevent the paper jam or the like from deteriorating and facilitate the recovery. It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer type printer that can perform

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a transfer type printer in which an ink ribbon from a ribbon supply roller is used to print on a paper by a print head and the ink ribbon is wound by a take-up roller. A rotation motor, rotation detection means for detecting the rotation state of the winding roller,
The stop state measuring means for measuring the drive instruction amount to the motor when the rotation detecting means detects the stop state of the winding roller, and the drive instruction amount measured by the stop state measuring means are preset. A winding failure processing means for determining an error in winding the ink ribbon and performing error processing when the upper limit drive instruction amount is exceeded is provided.

[0010]

In the present invention having such a structure, the rotation detecting means detects the rotation state of the take-up roller, and when the stop state of the take-up roller is detected in this detection, the stop state measuring means supplies the motor to the motor. The drive instruction amount is measured.

The winding failure processing means determines that the winding failure of the ink ribbon has occurred when the drive instruction amount to the motor measured by the stop state measuring means becomes equal to or more than the preset upper limit drive instruction amount. Error handling is performed.

[0012]

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic structure of a thermal head 1 and an ink ribbon 2 of a transfer printer to which the present invention is applied. The ink ribbon 2 is wound around a ribbon feed roller 3 and this ribbon is used. The thermal head 1 is fed from the feed roller 3 through the first auxiliary roller 4a.
The printing surface of is stretched over the second auxiliary roller 4b,
The second auxiliary roller 4b is wound around the ribbon winding roller 5. Back tension for preventing slack is applied to the ribbon feed roller 3 by a ribbon motor described later even when the ink ribbon 2 is not conveyed.

A platen 7 is disposed so as to face the thermal head 1 with the ink ribbon 2 interposed therebetween. For a sheet passing between the thermal head 1 and the platen 7 (indicated by a chain line in the figure). A supply side sheet sensor 6a is provided on the supply side of the conveyance path P (shown), and a discharge side sheet sensor 6b is provided on the discharge side.

The ribbon feed roller 3 and the ribbon take-up roller 5 are each provided with a rotation speed detecting mechanism having the same structure for detecting the rotation speed. As shown in FIG. 2, this rotation speed detection mechanism is used for the ribbon feed roller 3
Rotating shaft 3a and rotating shaft 5a of the ribbon winding roller 5
Is connected to a first disk member 8a and a second disk member 8b, respectively, and the first disk member 8a and the second disk member 8b are each formed with a plurality of circular slits along the outer circumference thereof. Has been done. Ribbon feeding side sensor 9a and ribbon winding side sensor 9b which are transmission type optical sensors
Is provided so that each optical path from the light emitting portion to the light receiving portion passes through a trajectory that a plurality of slits pass when the first disk member 8a and the second disk member 8b rotate, respectively. There is.

The second disk member 8b and the ribbon winding side sensor 9b constitute a rotation detecting means.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a circuit configuration of a main part of this transfer type printer.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU (cent
ral processing unit). A ROM (read onl) in which program data for processing performed by the CPU 11 is stored
y memory) 12, a RAM (random) in which areas of various memories used when the CPU 11 performs processing are formed.
access memory) 13, the supply side sheet sensor 6a, the discharge side sheet sensor 6b, the ribbon feeding side sensor 9a
The I / O (input / out-put) port 14 to which the detection signal output from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b is input is connected to the C port via a system bus 15.
It is connected to the PU 11.

A keyboard controller 17 for controlling the keyboard 16, a head controller 18 for controlling the thermal head 1, a pulse motor 19 for rotating the platen 7 to convey a sheet, and the ribbon winding roller 5 are rotated. A motor controller 2 for controlling each ribbon motor 20 that conveys the ink ribbon 2.
1 is also connected to the CP via the system bus 15.
It is connected to U11. The ribbon motor 20
A DC motor is used in the.

As shown in FIG. 4, the RAM 13 further stores the data of the applied voltage value (or the pulse period value) set in a plurality of stages for controlling the ribbon motor 20, and the ribbon motor control. Table 31, ribbon feeding side counter 3 for counting the number of pulses output from the ribbon feeding side sensor 9a at preset time intervals
2. A ribbon take-up counter 33, a ribbon take-up defect counter 34, a paper jam counter 35, and a jam detection flag 36 that count the number of pulses output from the ribbon take-up side sensor 9b at the time intervals described above are formed. There is.

FIG. 5 shows the flow of the printing process performed by the CPU 11.

First, the jam detection flag 36 formed in the RAM 13 is cleared (for example, the jam detection flag 36).
To 0).

Next, as a process of step 1 (ST1), a ribbon motor drive process described later is performed. When the ribbon motor drive process is completed, the pulse motor 19 is driven by one step (pulse motor). Then, it is determined whether or not there is a sheet on the supply side depending on whether or not the sheet is detected by the supply side sheet sensor 6a.

If the paper is not detected by the paper sensor 6a on the supply side, the process returns to the ribbon motor drive processing of step 1 described above, and if the paper sensor 6a on the supply side detects the paper. , The jam detection flag 36 is turned on (for example, the jam detection flag 36 is set to 1).

Next, as the processing of step 2 (ST2), it is confirmed whether or not the jam detection flag 36 is in the ON state, and it is formed in the RAM 13 only when the jam detection flag is in the ON state. The addition processing of +1 is performed on the paper jam counter 35.

Next, if the paper is positioned at the printing position, the printing process is performed, and when the printing process is completed, the ribbon motor driving process described later is performed. When this ribbon motor drive processing is completed, the pulse motor 19
Is driven for one step to determine whether the count value of the paper jam counter 35 is equal to a preset paper jam value.

If the count value of the paper jam counter 35 is equal to the paper jam value, the ribbon motor 20
The operation of various drive units such as the above is stopped, a paper jam process such as notifying the occurrence of a paper jam is performed, and the processing ends in error.

If the count value of the paper jam counter 35 is not equal to the paper jam value, it is confirmed whether or not there is a paper on the discharge side by checking whether or not the paper is detected by the discharge-side paper sensor 6b. The count value of the paper jam counter 35 is set to 0 and the jam detection flag 36 is cleared only when the paper is detected by the discharge-side paper sensor 6b.

Next, it is judged whether or not the discharge / conveyance of the paper is completed. If the discharge / conveyance of the paper is not completed, the process returns to the above-mentioned step 2 again, and the discharge / conveyance of the paper is carried out. If the process is completed, the operation of various drive units such as the ribbon motor 20 is stopped, and the printing process is completed.

FIG. 6 shows a flow of the ribbon motor driving process described above.

First, the ribbon motor 20 is driven (drive instruction), the output (detection signal) from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b is input (reading the input level), and the read input level is stored in the RAM 13. It is stored in a predetermined area.

Next, it is judged whether or not the input level stored in the RAM 13 this time is equal to the input level from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b stored in the RAM 13 last time.
If the current input level and the previous input level are not equal to each other, the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 is set to 0, and the ribbon motor driving process is ended.

If the current input level is equal to the previous input level, +1 is added to the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 (drive instruction amount to the motor) (stop state measuring means). It is determined whether or not the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 (drive instruction amount to the motor) is equal to a preset ribbon winding failure value (upper limit drive instruction amount). If the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 is not equal to the ribbon winding failure value, the ribbon motor driving process is terminated, and the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 is set to the ribbon winding failure value. If the value is equal to the take-up failure value, the operation of various drive units such as the ribbon motor 20 is stopped, ribbon take-up failure processing such as notifying the ribbon take-up failure is performed (take-up failure processing means), and the error ends. It has become.

In this embodiment having such a structure, single-cut sheets and continuous sheets can be used as the sheets.

When a single-cut sheet is used, when the sheet is supplied to the thermal head 1, the leading end of the sheet is first detected by the supply-side sheet sensor 6a. Based on this detection, the paper is carried by a predetermined carrying distance, and the paper is positioned at the printing position between the thermal head 1 and the platen 7. The thermal head 1
Thus, printing is performed using the ink ribbon 2. Upon completion of printing, the printed paper is ejected, and the ejection-side paper sensor 6b detects and ejects the paper.

In the continuous paper, if the marker is not printed, the paper is always set to be supplied between the thermal head 1 and the platen 7. Therefore, if an issuing command is input from the keyboard 16, printing is started immediately, and when printing is completed, discharge and conveyance for the printed portion of the paper is performed.

By the way, in printing, when the second disk member 8b and the first disk member 8a provided on the rotating shafts of the ribbon winding roller 5 and the ribbon feeding roller 3 respectively rotate, the second disk member 8b and the second disk member 8b rotate. A pulse signal is output from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b and the ribbon feeding side sensor 9a by the slits formed in the first disk member 8a.

This pulse signal becomes a high level (or low level) output when the optical path of the ribbon winding side sensor 9b and the ribbon feeding side sensor 9a is secured by the slit portion, and the optical path is blocked by the non-slit portion. Sometimes it becomes a low level (or high level) output.

The number of pulses output from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b and the ribbon feeding side sensor 9a is counted by the ribbon winding side counter 33 and the ribbon feeding side counter 32, respectively, at preset time intervals.

The respective pulse numbers counted by the ribbon winding side counter 33 and the ribbon feeding side counter 32 indicate the respective rotation speeds of the ribbon winding roller 5 and the ribbon feeding roller 3, respectively. Therefore, the ratio of the rotational speeds of the ribbon take-up roller 5 and the ribbon feed roller 3 is calculated based on the number of pulses, and the ribbon motor capable of obtaining the optimum rotational torque of the ribbon take-up roller 5 from the calculated rotational speed ratio. The applied voltage value (or pulse frequency value) of 20 is selected from the ribbon control table 31, and the ribbon motor 20 is controlled by the selected applied voltage (or pulse frequency value). Therefore, the ribbon motor 20 can always wind the ink ribbon 2 with a constant rotation torque.

In the normal printing process, when the ink ribbon 2 is normally conveyed regardless of the type of paper, the ribbon take-up roller 5 is rotated by the drive of the ribbon motor 20 to rotate the second disk. Since the member 8b rotates, the output of the ribbon winding side sensor 9b frequently changes from high level to low level and from low level to high level. Therefore, the ribbon winding failure counter 34 does not reach the preset ribbon winding failure value.

Further, after the paper is detected by the paper sensor 6a on the supply side, the thermal head 1 performs the printing process on the paper. After that, if the printed paper is normally ejected, the paper jam counter 35 is activated. Before the paper jam value set in advance is reached, the paper is detected by the ejection side sensor 6b and the paper jam counter 35 is reset to zero.

However, when a paper jam occurs and the paper stops at the jam occurrence location and cannot be conveyed, the ink ribbon 2 cannot be conveyed either, and the printer is stopped. On the other hand, the drive of the ribbon motor 20 is continued and the ink ribbon 2
Is in a stopped state, the second disk member 8b cannot be rotated and is in a stopped state. As a result, the output from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b also continues to have a constant level.

Therefore, the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter is sequentially incremented, and the ribbon winding failure value is reached immediately. Therefore, the operation of various drive units such as the ribbon motor 20 is stopped, the ribbon winding failure process is performed, and then the error ends. Since the count value of this ribbon winding failure counter is counted regardless of the paper type and shape, even when using paper with no marker printed, it is possible to detect the ribbon winding failure quickly by detecting the ribbon winding failure. It is possible to detect a paper jam.

When the paper jam occurs, if the ribbon motor 20 is not driven, the discharge side paper sensor 6b.
Since the paper is not detected by, the paper jam counter 3
As a result, the counter value of 5 reaches the paper jam value, the operations of the various drive units are stopped, the paper jam processing is performed, and then the processing ends in error.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the ribbon motor 20 for rotating the ribbon take-up roller 5 and the second motor provided on the ribbon take-up roller 5 and having a plurality of slits formed along the outer circumference thereof are provided. The disk member 8b, the ribbon winding side sensor 9b whose optical path is set on the orbit of the slit of the second disk member 8b, and the input level from the ribbon winding side sensor 9b when the ribbon motor 20 is driven do not change. When the count value of the ribbon winding failure counter 34 reaches a preset ribbon winding failure value, it is determined that the ribbon winding failure is detected. , The ribbon motor 20 and other various drive units are stopped to carry out ribbon winding failure processing, and then the processing ends in error, so that the paper jam is conveyed between the ink ribbon 2 and the paper. Can be detected as Luo ribbon winding defects, without requiring the detection signal, such as a supply-side paper sensor 6a, it is possible to detect the paper jam more quickly.
Therefore, it is possible to quickly detect the occurrence of a paper jam corresponding to the paper on which the marker is not printed, and also to stop the operation of the various drive units at the same time when the ribbon winding failure is detected. Can be prevented
It is possible to easily recover the paper jam.

In this embodiment, the rotation speed detecting mechanism (the second disk member 8b and the ribbon winding side sensor 9b) provided on the ribbon winding side roller 5 for controlling the ribbon motor 20 is used for ribbon winding. The means for detecting the rotation state of the take-up roller 5 has been shared, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the ribbon take-up roller does not have a rotation speed detecting mechanism for controlling the ribbon motor. It is also possible to provide a dedicated sensor for detecting the rotation state of the winding roller 5 and detect the ribbon winding failure by this dedicated sensor.

In this embodiment, the rotation state of the ribbon take-up roller 5 is detected during the printing process from the start of printing to the end of printing. Although the number of drive instructions is counted and the ribbon winding failure is determined from the count value, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, the energization time to the ribbon motor when the rotation of the ribbon winding roller 5 is stopped or the number of pulses applied to the ribbon motor is counted, and the energization time or the number of applied pulses is a predetermined time or a predetermined number of pulses. In the above cases, it may be determined that ribbon winding is defective. Also, in the interrupt process that occurs at regular intervals, if the pulse motor and ribbon motor are driven and the paper and ink ribbon are transported, the ribbon take-up is included in the interrupt process that is performed at regular intervals. Perform the process to detect the rotation state of the roller,
When the stopped state of the ribbon take-up roller is continuously detected by a predetermined number of interruptions or more, error handling is performed as a ribbon take-up failure to prevent a paper jam or the like from being deteriorated.

[0049]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention,
By detecting the transport state of the ink ribbon, it is possible to quickly detect the occurrence of paper jams, etc.
It is possible to provide a transfer printer which can prevent deterioration of a paper jam and the like and facilitate recovery.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a thermal head and an ink ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a rotation speed mechanism of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a RAM of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of a printing process of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a flow of ribbon motor drive processing of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Thermal head, 2 ... Ink ribbon, 5 ... Ribbon winding roller, 6a ... Supply side sensor, 6b ... Discharge side sensor,
7 ... Platen, 8b ... 2nd disk member, 9b ... Ribbon winding side sensor, 11 ... CPU, 20 ... Ribbon motor, 34
… Ribbon winding failure counter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transfer printer in which an ink ribbon from a ribbon supply roller is used to print on a sheet by a print head and the ink ribbon is wound by a take-up roller, and a motor for rotating the take-up roller; Rotation detecting means for detecting a rotation state of the winding roller; stop state measuring means for measuring a drive instruction amount to the motor when the rotation detecting means detects the stop state of the winding roller; Winding failure processing means is provided for performing error processing by determining an ink ribbon winding failure when the drive instruction quantity measured by the stop state measuring means exceeds a preset upper limit drive instruction quantity. Transfer printer.