JPH067403Y2 - Identification mark reader - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an identification mark reading device for reading an identification mark recorded in forward scanning in the backward scanning.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when printing on slip paper or the like, identification by a bar code format or the like (hereinafter referred to as I
D) The mark is printed on a predetermined portion of the sheet, and the content of the sheet can be discriminated by the optical reading device.

That is, based on a plurality of code data received from a start command to a stop command from a host computer (for example, a personal computer), an ID mark corresponding to the code data is printed on a predetermined portion of the paper by using a printer. I am trying.

FIG. 8 shows an example of printing the ID mark on the paper. In the figure, 1- _s1 and 1- _s2 are start marks, 1 _-1 to
1 _-10 ID code _marks, 1 -11 _{to 1 -16} parity code _marks, 1 _{-E1, 1 -E2} denotes a stop mark. That is, the ID code mark 1 in which 8 bits 1 divided by the two-dot chain line in the figure are one unit (byte)
A, 1B, 1C and parity code mark 1D are used as start marks 1- _s1 , 1- _s2 and stop mark 1
_Printing is performed between _-E1 and 1- _E2 . That is, the start marks 1- _s1 , 1- _s2 corresponding to the start and stop commands from the host computer.
And the stop marks 1- _E1 and 1- _E2 are printed, and the ID code marks 1A, 1A, 1A, 1- _E2 corresponding to a plurality of code data received between the issuance of the start command and the issuance of the stop command. 1B and 1C and a parity code mark 1D are printed.

Such printing of the ID mark is performed by forward scanning of the print head in the direction A shown in the figure. After printing the ID mark, the print head is returned in the direction B shown in the figure, and then the I mark is printed.
The reading scan is performed to confirm the D mark.
That is, an ID read sensor is attached to the print head. The ID read sensor is returned to the original position together with the print head, and the print head is moved again in the direction A to perform forward scanning of the ID read sensor. , The ID mark is read (hereinafter, the reading of the ID mark by the forward scanning is referred to as forward reading).
Then, the data regarding the ID mark read by this forward read is stored from the top address of the memory in the reading order.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, according to such an ID mark reading method, after the ID mark is printed by the forward scan of the print head, the print head must be returned to its original position in order to prepare for the forward reading of the printed ID mark. As shown in the movement of the print head in FIG. 9, a total of three spacing operations are required from the printing of the ID mark to the reading thereof.

In FIG. 8, since the number of pieces of code data is as small as 4 bytes, the time required for one spacing does not pose a problem, but the number of pieces of code data increases with the recent diversification of information processing. The tendency is that as the number of code data increases, the time required for one spacing becomes longer, and as a result, the problem that the ID mark printing / reading process takes a long time has recently been highlighted. It has been.

In particular, due to problems such as thin ink ribbon, I
When the D mark is not properly read, the print head is rescanned and the ID mark is overwritten. In this case, the movement of the print head is shown in FIG. , A total of 7 spacing operations are required. “Also, if the ID mark cannot be read properly even with the forward read by the arrow, this printing / returning / reading operation is repeated, and the processing time required for printing / reading the ID mark is further prolonged. Become.

If the ID mark is overwritten by the backward scan of the print head, the printed state of the ID mark may be shifted to the left or right. Therefore, the forward scan must be always performed.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem. The ID mark recorded in the forward scan is read in the backward scan, and the data related to the read ID mark is read in the reading order from the final address of the memory. It is intended to be stored.

[Action]

Therefore, according to this invention, the ID recorded in the forward scan
The mark is read in its backward scan and this read I
The data regarding the D mark is stored from the final address of the memory in the reading order.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the ID mark reading device according to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of a horizontal multicolor printer to which an embodiment of this ID mark reading device is applied.
The sheet inserted from the supply port 100 is detected by a sheet feeding sensor 3 such as a light emitting diode and a light receiving transistor provided facing each other to guide plates 2a and 2b arranged to face each other in the vertical direction. According to the rotation of the transfer motor 4, the gears 5, 6 and the pulley 7
Also, the rollers 9 and 10 rotate in the direction of the arrow through the belt 8 and come into contact with the rollers 9 and 10, and the pressing rollers 11 and 12
The paper is nipped by and is transported to the right in the figure.

However, in the middle between the rollers 9 and 10, the platen 1
3 is provided, a wire dot printing type print head 14 is provided at the upper side opposite thereto, and a paper edge sensor 15 similar to the paper feed sensor 3 is provided at the supply port 100 side thereof. When the leading edge of the sheet is detected by this, the transfer distance until the print start position of the sheet coincides with the position directly below the print head 14 is determined with reference to this position. Therefore, when the transfer distance is moved, the motor 4 is moved. Stopped,
The printer is ready to print.

The print head 14 has a mechanism, which is omitted in the figure, for the supply port 1
It moves in both left and right directions when viewed from the 00 side, and is supported so that it can move back and forth in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.
Based on the detection switch (24 shown in FIG. 4), the gap between the paper surface and the front end 14a is automatically determined according to the paper thickness,
Printing is performed while moving in both the left and right directions according to the start of printing, the motor 4 rotates to perform a line feed when printing of one line is completed, and then the printing head 14 performs printing while moving in the opposite direction. The above operation is repeated, and as the printing progresses, the paper is gradually transferred to the discharge port 16 side on the right side of the drawing.

Further, when the trailing edge of the sheet passes the sheet edge sensor 15, the trailing edge is detected by the change in the output, and the printing position of the final line of the sheet is determined with this position as a reference.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a supporting state of the print head 14, and the ink ribbon 17 is provided on both side plates (not shown).
The cartridge 18 is detachably mounted, the lower guide shaft 19 and the upper guide shaft 20 are arranged on the back surface of the cartridge 18, and the carriage 21 is provided by being inserted into the lower guide shaft 19 and the upper guide shaft 20. . That is, the carriage 21 is slidably held in the left-right direction in the drawing via the slide bearings 21a and 21b on the lower guide shaft 19 and the upper guide shaft 20 arranged in parallel with each other, and the carriage 21 is printed. Head 1
4 is installed. And the lower guide shaft 19
Also, the upper guide shaft 20 is movably supported in the vertical direction, and these serve as the eccentric bearing structure of the upper guide shaft 20 of the guide shafts, and the rotation of an eccentric cam (not shown) constituting this eccentric bearing structure. The print head 14 can freely move back and forth with respect to the paper surface in accordance with the angular position. That is, by rotating the eccentric cam, the upper guide shaft 20 and the lower guide shaft 19 are moved up and down, and the gap between the platen 13 and the tip 14a of the print head 14 can be adjusted. The rotation angle position of the eccentric cam is successively feedback-controlled by the detected forces of the cam position detection sensor (25 shown in FIG. 4).

Further, the carriage 21 is provided with a holder 22 in addition to the print head 14, and the holder 22 guides the paper to the platen portion and at the same time stabilizes the running operation of the ink ribbon 17. Also, the holder 2
2, an ID read sensor 23 is fixed with its sensing portion facing downward, and the ID read sensor 23 targets a paper part in the left-right direction substantially the same as the tip 14a of the print head 14, and projects and reflects light. Is received, and the ID mark is optically read while moving integrally with the print head 14.

The ink ribbon 17 is divided into two in the width direction,
The front part thereof is a black band 17a and the rear part thereof is a red band 17b. By driving a solenoid valve (26 shown in FIG. 4), the ink ribbon 17 is ejected together with the cartridge 18 in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the figure. The black printing mode using the black band 17a is switched to the red printing mode using the red band 17b.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control circuit that controls the control operation of the horizontal multicolor printer having the above-described configuration. The master CPU 31 _-1 , PROM 3 are shown in FIG.
1 _-2, RAM31 _-3, print head control circuit 3
_1-4 , interface circuits _31-5 and _31-6
The main control unit comprising consists like the (master unit) 31, the slave _{CPU 32} -1, PROM 32 _-2 control circuit 32
_-3, the sub control unit comprising consist ribbon switching circuit _32-4 and the timing generating circuit _{32 -5} like and a (slave unit) 32. Master unit 32 and slave unit 3
2, the interconnections have been achieved through the interface circuit 31 _-6, via the interface circuit 31 _-5 to the master unit 31, which is intended to command from the host computer is input. In the _figure, 27 -1 _{~ 27 -n} is a motor group that rotating operation is controlled by the control circuit _{32 -3} in the slave unit 32, for example, _{27 -1} movement in the lateral direction of the print head 14 27- _n is a drive motor for controlling the movement of the print head 14 in the vertical direction.

FIG. 5 shows the master CPU 3 in the master unit 31.
_1-1 Control (ID mark printing and reading device)
It is a main part flowchart of the situation, and the printing operation and the reading operation of the ID mark on the paper will be described below based on this flowchart.

That is, when the ID mark is printed, a command to print the ID mark data is input from the host computer to the master unit 31 (step 501). The master CPU _{31-1 which} has received the print command of the ID mark data prints the ID mark corresponding to the input ID mark data on the designated paper while the print head 14 is moving forward (step 502). Then, after the printing of the ID mark by the forward scan is completed, the printed ID mark is read by the backward scan of the ID read sensor 23 while the print head 14 is returned based on the subsequent step 503. (Hereinafter, reading of the ID mark by this backward scanning is called reverse reading). Then, the first data relating to the ID mark read by this reverse read is not stored in the final address of the memory (step 504), and step 503 is performed until the start mark of the ID mark is detected based on step 505.
And 504 are repeated. That is, step 503-
By repeating 505, the data regarding the ID mark read by the reverse read is stored from the final address of the memory in the reading order. When the start mark is detected in step 505, the parity check of the read data is performed assuming that the reverse reading of the ID mark is completed (step 506). Then, based on the result of the parity check, it is judged whether or not the data is properly read (step 507). If the data is legitimately read, the process proceeds to step 508 and a series of I
The printing / reading operation of the D mark is completed. If the data is not properly read, the process returns to step 502 and I
Reprint the D mark.

FIG. 6 shows the print head 14 based on this flowchart.
The ID mark is printed by the spacing shown by the arrow in the figure, and the reverse reading of the ID mark is performed by the spacing shown by the arrow in the figure. That is, according to the reading method of the ID mark of the present embodiment, the spacing work from the printing of the ID mark to the reading of the ID mark may be performed a total of two times, which is different from the conventional reading method described with reference to FIG. The number of times can be omitted once, and accordingly, the time for printing / reading the ID mark can be shortened. Moreover, since the data regarding the ID mark read by the reverse read is stored from the last address of the memory in the reading order, the data is stored in the memory as if the ID mark was read by the forward read, and the ID mark data from the host computer side is stored. There is no delay in the comparison of.

Further, as the parity error occurs, there is an advantage that the effect of shortening the printing / reading processing time of the ID mark is enhanced. That is, if a parity error occurs in step 506, the ID mark is reprinted in step 502 after step 507. Reprinting of this ID mark is performed by the spacing shown by the arrow after the reverse read shown by the arrow, as shown in the movement of the print head 14 in FIG. Then, the ID mark is re-read by the spacing shown by the arrow after the spacing shown by this arrow. That is, according to the ID mark reading method of the present embodiment, a total of four spacing operations from the printing of the ID mark to the rereading are sufficient, which is more than the conventional reading method described with reference to FIG. The number of pacings can be omitted three times. If the ID mark could not be read even with the reverse read of the arrow shown in FIG. 7,
Further, the printing / reverse reading is repeated, and the effect of shortening the printing / reading processing time is further enhanced.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram corresponding to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5, in which a block 41 causes the print head 14 to perform forward scanning to print an ID mark on the basis of a print command of ID mark data from the host computer. I do. Then, in response to the ID mark printing end signal from the block 41, the block 42 controls the return of the print head 14. Further, in response to the ID mark printing end signal from the block 41, the block 43 causes the ID read sensor 23 to
Reverse reading of the ID mark is performed, and the read data is stored in the reading order from the final address of the memory 43a. Then, based on the start mark read signal sent from the block 43, the return control of the print head 14 by the block 42 is interrupted, and the reverse read performed by itself is completed. And I read
When data concerning the D mark is sent to the block 44 and a parity error is detected in this block 44, the block 41 is forced to reprint the ID mark.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the ID mark reading device of the present invention, the ID mark recorded in the forward scan is read in the backward scan, and the data relating to the read ID mark is stored in the reading order from the final address of the memory. As a result, the number of spacings involved in recording / reading can be reduced as compared with the related art, and accordingly, the printing of the ID mark and the reading processing time can be shortened. Moreover, the ID read by the backward scan
Since the data related to the mark is stored from the last address of the memory in the reading order, it is stored in the memory as if the ID mark was read by the forward scan, and I
The comparison with the D mark data is not delayed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram corresponding to the flow chart shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of a horizontal multicolor printer to which an embodiment of an ID mark reading device according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a supporting condition of the print head in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control circuit for controlling the horizontal multicolor printer. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the main part of the control and printing of the ID mark performed by the master CPU in this control circuit, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the movement of the print head according to this flow chart, and FIG. 7 is this flow chart. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the movement of the print head when a parity error occurs, FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of printing an ID mark, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional ID mark reading method. Shows the moving state of the print head, Fig. 10 is a diagram showing a moving state of the print head when a parity error occurs in the reading process of the ID mark. 41 ... ID mark print control block, 42 ... Print head return control block, 43 ... Reverse read block, 43a ... Memory, 44 ... Parity check block.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Ichiro Takemura Inventor, Ichiro Takemura 5-33-1, Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NEC Corporation (56) References JP 63-7955 (JP, A) JP Heihei 1-113890 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An identification mark reading means for reading an identification mark recorded in a forward scan in a backward scan, and a data storage means for storing data relating to the read identification mark from a final address of a memory in the reading order. Identification mark reader.