JPH0667656B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is equipped with a color ribbon made of yellow, magenta, and cyan, and sequentially prints on a sheet set on a platen using the ribbon, for example, a thermal transfer printer.
It can be applied to a serial color printer such as a wire dot printer.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a serial thermal transfer printer, printing is first performed by using one of the upper and lower ribbons, and after the printing is completed, the ribbon cassette is turned upside down and then the other is printed. There is something to do.

However, when a yellow, magenta, and cyan color ribbon is used in this type of printer, reversing the ribbon cassette changes the color order associated with ribbon feeding.

Therefore, in the conventional color printer of this type, the ribbons are divided into upper and lower tiers, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, so that the color sequence of yellow, magenta, and cyan is the same even when the ribbon cassette is reversed. There was something to apply.

Therefore, the cost of the conventional color ribbon is high, and the running cost of the conventional serial printer of this type is high.

In view of the above, the present invention uses an inexpensive color ribbon in which the color ink is repeatedly applied in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan without dividing it into upper and lower parts in a serial printer in which the ribbon cassette is reversed and used as described above. It is possible to reduce the running cost.

Therefore, the printer according to the present invention returns to the carriage after printing by yellow (Y), and then appropriately magenta (M) based on the determination result of whether the ribbon cassette is front or back.
Or print with either cyan (C),
After that, the carriage is returned again, and the other printing is performed.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a color ribbon used in the printer according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, this color ribbon is not divided into upper and lower layers, but the color ink is repeatedly applied in the order of yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C). Then, store it in the ribbon cassette,
Mount it on the printer carriage. At this time, when the ribbon cassette is attached with the front side facing up, the ribbon is fed in the direction of the arrow in the drawing, and the ink surface is fed in the order of YMC. On the contrary, when the ribbon cassette is mounted with the back side facing up, the ribbon is fed in the direction opposite to the arrow shown, and the ink surface is fed in the YCM order.

In the color print control system according to the present invention, the color ribbon shown in FIG. 2 is used to print as shown in FIG. 1, for example. That is, first, it is determined whether or not there is printing by yellow (Y), and if there is printing, the printing is performed by aligning the ink surface of yellow (Y) with the printing position. After the printing by the yellow (Y) is completed, the carriage is returned, and then the front and back of the ribbon cassette are judged.
Then, when the ribbon cassette is set on the carriage with the front side facing up, it is then determined whether or not there is printing with magenta (M). If there is, the ink surface of magenta (M) is set to the printing position. The printing is also performed. After the printing with magenta (M) is completed, the carriage returns again, and at the end it is determined whether or not there is printing with cyan (C). If there is, the printing is performed by aligning the cyan (C) ink surface with the printing position. I do. On the other hand, when the ribbon cassette is set on the carriage with the back side facing up, on the contrary, it is determined whether or not there is cyan (C) printing, and if there is, printing is performed, and finally magenta ( It is determined whether or not there is printing according to M), and if there is, printing is performed.

And of course, by combining yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C), in addition to these colors, orange, purple, green, and
A black print can be obtained.

Then, by repeating this, it is possible to obtain a print output of seven colors on the paper.

Therefore, according to the present invention, in the serial color printer in which the ribbon cassette is reversed, the color print output order is changed depending on whether the ribbon cassette is set on the front side or the back side. Therefore, the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan is changed. Thus, it is possible to use an inexpensive color ribbon in which the color ink is repeatedly applied to the whole without distinguishing the upper and lower stages, and it is possible to reduce the running cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a printing flowchart based on the printer according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a color ribbon used in the present invention. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a conventional color ribbon. (Y) …… Yellow (M) …… Magenta (C) …… Cyan

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After completion of printing by the yellow, the carriage returns, and then either the magenta or the cyan is appropriately printed based on the judgment result of whether the ribbon cassette is the front side or the back side. A printer that prints with.