JPH06297824A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a printing quality from deteriorating at the start of printing by a method wherein whether an ink ribbon cassette may be replaced is detected by the operating state of a printer, and the ink ribbon is fed by a predetermined amount when printing is to be started. CONSTITUTION:In a printer formed by loading an ink ribbon cassette 11 windably containing an ink ribbon on a carriage 3 reciprocated along a carriage stay 5 through a timing belt 7, whether the ink ribbon cassette 11 may be replaced is detected by the operating state of the printer. Namely, in the absence of reception of data for a predetermined time when a power source is turned ON from an OFF state, when the printer is turned to an on-line state from an off-line state in the ON state of the power source, or when the power source is in an ON state and the printer is in an on-line state, the ink ribbon cassette 11 is judged to have a possibility that it may be replaced. With this judgement, the ink ribbon is fed by a predetermined amount.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and in particular, by devising the feeding control of the ink ribbon, it is possible to eliminate the slack and displacement of the ink ribbon at the start of printing without requiring a complicated structure. The present invention relates to a printer configured to prevent deterioration of print quality.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are wire dot printers, thermal printers, and the like as printers that perform printing using an ink ribbon cassette. Among them, carriage dot type ink ribbons are used, and wire dot type printers are not. For example, the configuration is as shown in FIG. First, there is a housing 1, and a carriage 3 is mounted in the housing 1 so as to be movable in the arrow a direction. The carriage 3 moves along the carriage stay 5, and is moved via the timing belt 7 by rotating a drive motor (not shown) in the forward direction and the reverse direction. The timing belt 7 is wound around a pulley arranged on the side opposite to the pulley fixed to the output shaft of the drive motor, and the carriage 3 is fixed to the timing belt 7.

A print head 9 is attached to the carriage 3, and the print head 9 moves in the same direction as the carriage 3 moves. An ink ribbon cassette 11 is mounted on the carriage 3, and an ink ribbon 13 (see FIGS. 4 to 7) is mounted on the ink ribbon cassette 11.
(Shown in FIG. 3) is accommodated in a windable state. The winding of the ink ribbon 13 may be performed using a drive motor dedicated to winding, or may be performed using the rotational force from the drive motor for moving the carriage 3 already described.

A platen 15 is rotatably attached to the side facing the print head 9. Then, the ink ribbon 13 is positioned between the print head 9 and the platen 15, and a sheet (not shown) is supplied between the ink ribbon 13 and the platen 15. That is, the paper is supplied to the platen 15 from a direction diagonally above and behind the platen 15, and is wound around the platen 15 via a space between the platen 15 and a pinch roller (not shown). Then, the ink is supplied between the platen 15 and the ink ribbon 13, and then hit by the print head 9 through the ink ribbon 13 to perform desired printing on the paper. The printed paper is ejected in the direction above the platen 15.

In the above structure, when a print command is output from a host computer (not shown), the drive motor for driving the carriage 3 starts to rotate, which causes the carriage 3 to move in the left-right direction via the timing belt 7. At that time, the print head 9 performs desired printing. At that time, in the ink ribbon cassette 11, the ink ribbon 13 is always wound in a fixed direction by a dedicated drive motor or a drive motor for the carriage 3, and a portion where ink is consumed is stored in the ink ribbon cassette 11. The portion which is contained and impregnated with ink is supplied to the portion of the print head 9.

[0006]

The above-mentioned conventional structure has the following problems. For example, as printing is performed to some extent, the amount of ink with which the ink ribbon 13 of the ink ribbon cassette 11 is impregnated decreases and the printing density decreases. Therefore, the work of replacing the ink ribbon cassette 11 with a new one is performed. At that time, when the ink ribbon cassette 11 is replaced with a new one, the ink ribbon 13 is located at the correct position with respect to the print head 9 as shown in FIG. 4, and slack occurs as shown in FIG. If not, there is no problem, but as shown in FIG. 5, the ink ribbon 13 is displaced from the print head 9,
As shown in FIG. 7, looseness may occur. When printing is started in such a state, the ink ribbon 13
However, there is a problem that the printing quality is deteriorated until the positional deviation and the slack are eliminated after the winding is performed. Specifically, in the printing immediately after the start of printing, characters may be missing or the printing density may be low. In order to solve such a problem, a detector for detecting the mounting state of the ink ribbon cassette 11 is provided, and the ink ribbon 13 is wound up when a new ink ribbon cassette 11 is mounted. However, this requires a detector, which complicates the configuration and causes a cost problem.

The present invention has been made on the basis of such a point. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the positional deviation and slack of the ink ribbon without complicating the structure and increasing the cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device capable of preventing deterioration of printing quality.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus configured to feed an ink ribbon contained in an ink ribbon cassette in its longitudinal direction, and the ink ribbon cassette is replaced. It is configured to detect whether or not there is a possibility that it has occurred, and to execute a predetermined amount of feeding operation of the ink ribbon when the next printing is to be started. is there. At that time, when the power is turned from the off state to the on state, when the power is turned on and is changed from the offline state to the online state, when the power is turned on and the online state is set, the data reception is predetermined. It is conceivable that the ink ribbon is configured to be fed by a predetermined amount in at least one of the case where there is no time.

[0009]

That is, it is detected from the operating state of the printing device whether or not there is a possibility that the ink ribbon cassette has been replaced, and when a next printing operation is started, a predetermined amount of ink ribbon feeding operation is executed. With such a configuration, it is possible to eliminate the positional deviation and slack of the ink ribbon and prevent the print quality from deteriorating. For example, when the power is turned from the off state to the on state, when the power is turned on and offline from the online state, when the power is turned on and the online state is received and data reception is performed for a predetermined time. If there is not, it is possible to detect and execute the feeding operation of a predetermined amount of the ink ribbon.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 and FIG.
The first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, considering the state of the printer when there is a possibility that the ink ribbon cassette 11 may be replaced, "the printer is powered off" and "the printer is powered on and offline. It is assumed that the printer is in a power-on state and is in an online state but is not receiving data. Therefore, in the case of the present embodiment, when the printing apparatus is in the above-described state and printing is started, in order to correct the positional deviation of the ink ribbon 13 and eliminate the slack, the ink ribbon 13 is removed. The take-up operation is performed. Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, after the power is turned on, the ribbon winding flag is set (turned on) (sequence S).
1). Next, the process proceeds to sequence S2 to clear and start the timer. Next, in step S3, it is determined whether or not to shift to the offline state (the operation status of the online / offline changeover switch is confirmed). If it does not shift to the off-line state, it shifts to sequence S4 and shifts to online processing, and it is determined whether or not there is received data from the host computer. On the other hand, when shifting to the off-line state, the sequence shifts to the sequence S5, the off-line processing is executed, and it is repeatedly determined in the sequence S6 whether or not to return to the online state. Then, in the case of shifting to the online state, the sequence shifts to the sequence S7, the ribbon winding flag is set (turned on), and the sequence shifts to the sequence S4.

Next, in a sequence S8, it is judged whether or not the ribbon winding flag is set,
When the ribbon winding flag is set, the sequence S9 is bypassed and the sequence proceeds to the sequence S10. On the other hand, when the ribbon take-up flag is not set, the sequence proceeds to sequence S9, and the timer is cleared and started. In sequence S10, it is determined whether or not the received data is print start data, and if it is print start data, sequence S11 is performed.
Then, it is determined whether or not the ribbon winding flag is set. If the ribbon winding flag is set, the sequence proceeds to step S12, and the ribbon winding operation is performed. In the case of this embodiment, the winding amount is set to 50 mm. On the other hand, if the ribbon winding flag is not set, the sequence S1
By detouring to 2, the sequence proceeds to sequence S13, and the ribbon winding flag is cleared (turned off). Then, the printing operation is performed (sequence S14).

When the received data is not the print start data in sequence S10, the process returns to sequence S3. If there is no received data from the host computer in sequence S4, sequence S15
Then, it is determined whether or not the ribbon winding flag is set. If the ribbon winding flag is not set, the process proceeds to sequence S16, and it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (60 seconds) has elapsed after the timer was started. Then, when 60 seconds have elapsed, the process proceeds to sequence S17, and the ribbon winding flag is set. Then, the process returns to the sequence S3. If the ribbon winding flag is set in sequence S15 and 60 seconds or more have not elapsed after the timer started in sequence S16, the process returns to sequence S3.

According to the present embodiment as described above, "the power supply of the printing device is in the off state", "the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and offline", "the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and online". Is not receiving any data, ''
Since a predetermined amount of winding operation of the ink ribbon 13 is being executed, positional deviation and slack of the ink ribbon 13 can be reliably eliminated before printing is started, thereby preventing character loss and print density reduction. Thus, the print quality can be improved.

More specifically, first, when the power source is turned on from the off state, the ribbon winding flag is set in the sequence S1. In other words, if you turn on the power to start printing from the state "the power of the printing device is off",
The ribbon take-up flag is set so that the ink ribbon 13 is taken up by a predetermined amount. Further, when "the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and in the offline state", that is, when it is in the offline state, the ribbon winding flag is set in sequence S7 when starting printing from the online state. Thus, a predetermined amount of winding operation of the ink ribbon 13 is executed. In addition, "the printing device is in the ON state and is in the online state but is not receiving data", that is, when printing is started from the online state,
In sequence S16, after confirming that the reception data does not come from the host computer for a fixed time (60 seconds), in sequence S17, the ribbon winding flag is set and the ink ribbon 13 is wound by a predetermined amount. I am trying. Thus, "printer power is off", "printer power is on and offline", "printer power is on and online but no data is received When it is attempted to start printing from a state such as "there is a state", the ribbon take-up flag is always set and the ink ribbon 13 is taken up by a predetermined amount. Therefore, as described above, it is possible to surely eliminate the positional deviation and the slack of the ink ribbon 13 before the printing is started.
It is possible to improve the print quality by preventing character loss and reduction in print density.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, after turning on the power, the sequence S
21, the ribbon winding operation of a predetermined amount (50 mm) is executed. That is, when the power is turned on to start printing from a state such as “the power of the printing device is off”, the ribbon winding operation of a predetermined amount (50 mm) is executed and the position of the ink ribbon 13 is changed. It is intended to eliminate gaps and looseness. Next, the process proceeds to sequence S22 to clear and start the timer. Next, the sequence S
In step S23, it is determined whether to shift to the offline state. If you do not want to go offline,
The process moves to sequence S24 to enter online processing, and it is determined whether or not there is received data from the host computer. If there is received data, it is determined whether the received data is print start data (sequence S25). If it is print start data, the printing operation is performed (sequence S26) and the process returns to sequence S22.

In addition, when shifting to the off-line state in sequence S23, the sequence proceeds to sequence S27, the off-line processing is performed, and it is repeatedly determined in sequence S28 whether or not the state has shifted to the online state. Then, when the online state is entered, the sequence S
In step 29, a predetermined amount (50 mm) of the ink ribbon is wound up. In other words, when the printing apparatus is switched to the online state to start printing from a state such as "the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and the offline state", the ink ribbon 13 is wound up by a predetermined amount (50 mm). ,
The positional deviation and slack of the ink ribbon 13 are eliminated. Then, after shifting to sequence S30 to clear and start the timer, the sequence shifts to sequence S24.

If there is no data received from the host computer in sequence S24, the process proceeds to sequence S31, and it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (60 seconds) has elapsed after the timer was started. It When the predetermined time has elapsed, the sequence S32
Then, the ink ribbon 13 is wound up by a predetermined amount (50 mm). In other words, if you try to start printing from a state such as "The power supply of the printing device is in the on state and in the online state and no data is received",
When the data from the host computer does not arrive for a certain period of time, the ink ribbon 13 is wound up by a predetermined amount (50 mm) to eliminate the displacement and slack of the ink ribbon 13. Then, in sequence S31, when the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process returns to sequence S23, and when the winding operation is performed in sequence S32, the process returns to sequence S22.

Therefore, also in the case of this embodiment, the first
Similar to the case of the embodiment, it is possible to surely eliminate the positional deviation and the slack of the ink ribbon 13 before the start of printing, thereby preventing the character loss and the decrease of the printing density and improving the printing quality. Is something that can be done.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. In the case of each of the above-mentioned embodiments, “the power supply of the printing device is in the off state”, “the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and offline state”, “the power supply of the printing device is in the on state and online state” When trying to start printing from a state such as "no data is received", the winding operation of a predetermined amount of the ink ribbon 13 is always executed in all cases, but in the case of at least one It is conceivable to configure it so that it is performed only. Further, the predetermined time and the predetermined amount (winding amount) may be arbitrarily set. Further, as already described, the ink ribbon cassette includes a carriage-mounted type and a stationary type, and the ink ribbon cassette can be similarly applied to any type of ink ribbon cassette. Here, the stationary ink ribbon car set is not mounted on the carriage like a carriage-mounted ink ribbon cassette, but is in a state of being mounted at a predetermined position. In general, the size is larger than that of a carriage-mounted ink ribbon cassette. Since it is not a carriage-mounted type, it does not move as the carriage moves. Even in the case of such a stationary type ink ribbon cassette, the displacement and slack of the ink ribbon may occur when the ink ribbon cassette is replaced. Therefore, by applying the present invention, The same effect can be achieved. Further, in the carriage-mounted or stationary ink ribbon cassette, it is optional whether the ink ribbon is wound by a dedicated drive motor or the rotational force of the drive motor for the carriage is used.
The same applies to both types.

[0021]

As described above in detail, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, whether or not the ink ribbon cassette may have been replaced is detected from the operating state of the printing apparatus, and printing is started next. Since it is configured to execute a predetermined amount of feeding operation of the ink ribbon when it is performed, it is possible to prevent positional deviation and looseness of the ink ribbon before starting printing, and prevent deterioration of print quality. In this case, it is not necessary to provide a detector to have a complicated structure as in the conventional case.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a printing device, which is a diagram used for explaining a conventional example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram used for explaining a conventional example, showing a state in which an ink ribbon is located at a correct position with respect to a print head.

FIG. 5 is a diagram used in the description of the conventional example, illustrating a state in which the ink ribbon is located at a position displaced from the print head.

FIG. 6 is a diagram used in the description of the conventional example, showing a state in which the ink ribbon is not loosened with respect to the print head.

FIG. 7 is a diagram used for explaining a conventional example, showing a state in which an ink ribbon is slack with respect to a print head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Carriage 9 Print head 11 Ribbon cassette 13 Ink ribbon

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus configured to feed an ink ribbon housed in an ink ribbon cassette in a longitudinal direction thereof, detecting whether or not the ink ribbon cassette may have been replaced from the operating state of the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus is configured to perform a predetermined amount of feeding operation of the ink ribbon when the next printing is started. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the power is turned on from the off state, when the power is on and when the offline state is changed to the online state, the power is on. Also, the printing apparatus is configured to execute a feeding operation of a predetermined amount of the ink ribbon when at least any one of the cases where the data is not received for a predetermined time in the online state.