JPH07291500A - Automatic roll paper discharging mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the work of removing cut ends of a paper roll from an image setter in the case the remaining portion of the paper roll is shorter than the specified length by sensing the length of the useless portion when the paper is exhausted, and automatically discharging the useless portion of paper roll after its finally recorded part is cut off. CONSTITUTION:After recording is made on a paper roll, the paper is conveyed upon setting the count value in a pulse counter 13, and the indication of a sensor 3 to sense the trailing edge of the paper is monitored. When the value of the pulse counter 13 nullifies, the conveyance is considered as ended, and the paper is cut off and forwarded to an automatic developing machine 11, and this operating cycle is repeated. When the sensor 3 senses that the paper is exhausted, the value on the pulse counter 13 is read, and the remaining amount of paper is calculated from the feed amount of paper conveyed. If the remaining amount is shorter than capable of being processed by the developing machine 11, it should be discharged; if longer, a portion capable of being processed is fed to the machine 11 while the remaining useless portion is cut off and discharged.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus having a function of recording image data transmitted from a host apparatus on a photosensitive material and discharging the image data (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "image setter").

An image setter receives binary image data from a higher-level device, converts it into a laser beam, irradiates a photosensitive material set in the image setter, and performs exposure recording. After that, the exposed portion of the roll paper is cut to a specified length and discharged to an automatic developing machine connected to the imagesetter.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a roll paper feeding device in an imagesetter (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-123744) comprises the following elements.

(1) A transport mechanism for feeding the roll paper and transporting it to a recording unit such as a photosensitive drum (2) A cutter for cutting the roll paper into a predetermined length (3) A detection signal corresponding to the movement amount of the roll paper Output rotation detector (4) Paper detection sensor that can detect the presence or absence of paper to detect the end of roll paper. (5) The operation of the control unit (microcomputer) that controls all of these is described below. In order to know that the roll paper has reached the end, the control unit monitors the paper detection sensor while the roll paper is being conveyed, and when the sensor detects that the paper is out, the paper is exhausted. Further, while the roll paper is being conveyed, the detection signal from the rotation detector is fetched into the control unit, and the feeding length when there is no paper is obtained based on this detection signal. If the feeding length when the absence of paper is detected is more than a certain amount, the cutter and the transport mechanism are operated to discharge the paper of the specified length to the outside.

[0005]

In the prior art, a process for detecting the absence of paper, recognizing the remaining length, and determining whether or not recording can be performed according to the remaining length is realized.
However, when the remaining length of the roll paper is shorter than a predetermined length, or after the last recorded portion is cut and discharged to the outside, half of the paper remains in the apparatus. The removal of the paper required manual work such as opening the lid of the device. Particularly in the case of a large-sized imagesetter, if the above-mentioned half-edge paper remains, the removal work is complicated.

Therefore, the present invention has improved the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and when the remaining length of the roll paper is shorter than a predetermined length or after the last recording is cut and the paper is discharged to the outside. Moreover, it is an attempt to eliminate the complicated work of discharging all cut paper from the imagesetter and transporting it to the automatic developing machine to remove the scraps of the paper from the inside of the imagesetter.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a pulse motor for conveying roll paper in an apparatus having a function of recording transmitted image data on a sensitive material on roll paper and discharging it. A pulse counter (down counter or up counter) and a circuit that has a sensor that detects the presence or absence of roll paper detect the half-length when the paper runs out, and the half-length after cutting the last recorded portion of the roll paper. The paper is automatically ejected from the apparatus, and the control unit that controls the pulse counter and the sensor constitutes an automatic ejection mechanism of the roll paper that controls the taking of the cut paper into the automatic developing machine.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of the mechanism of an imagesetter. Roll paper 2 is set in magazine 1. The roll paper 2 is fed from the magazine 1 by an entrance side roller 4 and an exit side roller 7 driven by a paper conveying pulse motor 9 and a belt 8. The fed-out paper is photosensitively recorded in the drum 5 by a laser beam emitted from the optical system 6. After the recording is completed, the paper is again fed by the pulse motor 9, the belt 8, the rollers 4 and 7 in the direction of the automatic developing machine 11 for the specified length. After sending the specified length, the paper is stopped and cut by the cutter 10, and the cut paper is taken into the automatic developing machine 11. The end of the roll paper is recognized by the sensor 3 (sensor 3 is ON, paper is present, and sensor 3 is OFF, paper is not present). For simplicity, the paper will move only when ejected after recording.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components related to an embodiment of the present invention. The pulse counter 13 starts down counting when the control unit 12 sets a certain count value and gives a count start command. During counting, a pulse having a constant cycle is output from the pulse counter 13 to the motor driver 14, and when the counter reaches 0, the pulse output stops. The motor driver 14 rotates the pulse motor 9 by a constant angle each time one pulse is given from the pulse counter 13. Further, the control unit 12 can know the current count value of the pulse counter 13 and the state of the sensor 3 at arbitrary timing. The automatic developing machine 11 takes in the cut paper into the inside thereof according to a command from the control unit 12.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the movement of one embodiment of the present invention. After recording at step 100,
In step 101, the count value is set in the pulse counter 13 and the conveyance is started. The sensor 3 is constantly monitored in step 102 while the paper is being conveyed.
If the result is F, the process jumps to step 105. In step 103, the count value of the pulse counter 13 is read, and if the counter reaches 0, it means that the conveyance is completed, and step 10
After cutting at 4, the paper is discharged to the automatic processor 11, and then the process returns to step 100. The imagesetter repeats the above operation until the paper runs out.

As the type of the pulse counter 13, a down counter is convenient, but an up counter can be adopted depending on the purpose.

In step 105, the count value of the down counter at the moment when the sensor 3 is turned off is read (this value is referred to as b). When the initial value of the down counter is a, the length l of the paper sent after the start of conveyance until the sensor 3 is turned off can be calculated by l = (ab) × (feed amount per pulse of pulse motor) . Further, since the paper is not conveyed after cutting the previously recorded portion, the leading edge of the paper at the start of conveyance is always at the position of the cutter 10. Therefore, the sensor 3 is off
As for the remaining length of the paper at the time, the position of the paper at that time is as shown in FIG. 4, so (remaining length) = (length of the paper sent from the start of conveyance until the sensor is turned off) + (Distance between the sensor and the position of the leading edge of the paper at the start of conveyance) = l + c. After the last recording is cut and discharged in steps 105, 106 and 107, lrest = (l + c)-(length of one recording page = cut length) remains in the apparatus. If this length is shorter than the maximum length (lmax) that can be processed by the automatic processor, step 109
At, the remaining length (lrest) is set in the counter to start transportation, and at step 110, the completion of transportation is confirmed, and then the paper runs out. On the other hand, the remaining length (lrest)
Is longer than the maximum length (lmax) that can be processed by the automatic developing machine, first in steps 111, 112 and 113, the length that can be processed by the automatic developing machine is sent, cut and discharged, and then steps 109 and 110. Then, discharge the remaining half of the paper.

By the above, all the cut papers are sent to the automatic developing machine, and no scraps remain in the imagesetter, and the trouble of setting a new roll paper can be saved.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the remaining length of the roll paper is shorter than the predetermined length, or when the last recording portion is cut and the paper is discharged to the outside. However, since all the cut paper is discharged from the imagesetter and conveyed to the automatic developing machine, the cut edge of the paper does not remain in the imagesetter. Therefore, when setting a new roll paper, it is not necessary to remove the scraps of the paper from the inside of the image center.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of an image setter which is a target of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state of roll paper when the sensor in FIG. 3 is OFF.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 magazine 2 roll paper 3 sensor 4 inlet side roller 5 drum 6 optical system 7 outlet side roller 8 belt 9 pulse motor 10 cutter 11 automatic developing machine 12 control unit 13 pulse counter 14 motor driver

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A circuit having a pulse motor for conveying roll paper, a pulse counter, and a sensor for detecting the presence / absence of roll paper in an apparatus having a function of recording transmitted image data on a photosensitive material on roll paper and discharging the same. According to this, the half length of paper when the paper runs out is detected, and the half paper after cutting the last recorded portion of the roll paper is automatically discharged from the apparatus. 2. The automatic discharge mechanism for roll paper according to claim 1, wherein a control unit for controlling the pulse counter and the sensor controls taking in the cut paper to the automatic developing machine.