JPH0756520A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To embody a printer with which printed matters by neat characters can be used easily and at low cost as an electronic POP (advertisement/guiding plate). CONSTITUTION:The printing part of the electronic POP device 1 is provided with a paper feed roller 41 round which a thermal paper sheet 40 is wound up, a take-up roller 43 for taking up the printed thermal paper sheet 40, a motor 46 for rotatively driving the take-up roller 43, a thermal line head 47 for printing data of one-line portion on the thermal paper sheet 40, a film roller 49 round which a transparent film 48 to be printed is wound up, a take-up roller 51 for taking up the transparent film 48, a motor 54 for rotatively driving the take-up roller 43, a thermal line head 56 for thermally transferring and printing the printing data of one-line portion on the transparent film 48 by a thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 and a fluorescent lamp 57. Further, a cut-out window for displaying the printed matters is formed in a surface case 1a, and a protective part for protecting the contents is attached to the cut-out window.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device to which a high speed printing technique is applied, and more particularly to a printing device usable as an advertisement / guide plate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art POP (point of purchase advertisin
g: At the time of purchase) An advertisement is an advertisement / information board placed near a product to inform and persuade the customer of the product, and is an advertisement that speaks to the customer at the store and answers the customer's questions. It covers all of the outdoor, in-store, and in-store advertisements of retail stores, and now that the stores are full of products, it is necessary to devise ways to attract customers without taking up space.

[0003]

By the way, the above-mentioned advertisement /
The guide plate was printed and the printed contents could not be changed.

Therefore, there is one in which an LED / fluorescent display tube or the like is used to form an advertisement / guidance plate and an LED or the like is used to display a message. However, in the case of an advertisement / guidance board using an LED or the like, since the character font is configured by the dot matrix method, the character size,
There was a defect that the characters were displayed unnaturally depending on the typeface. Further, there is a problem in that the advertisement / guidance board using the LED or the like can increase the degree of freedom of display but is expensive in terms of cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can use a printed matter with beautiful characters as an electronic POP (advertisement / guidance board) simply and at low cost.

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
To achieve the above object, a delivery roller for delivering the roll paper, a take-up roller for taking up the roll paper delivered from the delivery roller, and a print head provided between the delivery roller and the take-up roller for printing data. A case having a cutout window cut out so that the printed roll paper is exposed in a configuration other than the above-described configurations, a power supply unit for operating the configurations, and a protection unit for protecting the cutout window. I have it.

[0007]

According to the present invention, when the roll paper delivered from the delivery roller is taken up by the take-up roller, data is printed by the print head provided between the delivery roller and the take-up roller, and the printed roll paper is printed. Is displayed on the cutout window that is cut out so as to be exposed in a configuration other than the above respective configurations. Further, a power supply unit for operating each of the above components is installed on the bottom of the case.

Therefore, a printed matter with beautiful characters can be displayed easily and at low cost as an electronic POP (advertisement / guidance board), and the usability and the range of use can be greatly expanded.

[0009]

EXAMPLES Examples will be described below with reference to FIGS.

First Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 7 are views showing a first embodiment of a printing apparatus, and this embodiment is an example applied to a plurality of electronic POP apparatuses as a printing apparatus.

First, the structure will be described. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a data printing system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of an electronic POP device, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electronic POP device, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the electronic POP device.

In FIG. 1, the data printing system is created by a plurality of electronic POP devices 1, 1 ... As printing devices, a document creation device 2 and a document creation device 2 each of which comprises a notebook personal computer or a word processor for creating print data. A wireless modem 3 for transmitting the data to the electronic POP devices 1, 1 ...

The electronic POP device 1 (only two units are shown in FIG. 1) can be installed in plural units and has a printing unit 15 for reading out and printing print data line by line, as will be described later in detail. , A printing device used as an advertisement / guide plate by holding a printed matter in a predetermined cutout window. In the figure, 1a is an electronic POP device main body, and 1b is a cutout window in which a printed matter is held.

The document creation device 2 is an electronic POP device 1, 1
A personal computer or a word processor that creates print data to be advertised / guided with ... and that can create data of various document formats by format setting is used. For example, the format setting is "vertical writing" and "writing brush", and the document data is input by using a keyboard such as "○○○ calculator, one line".

The wireless modem 3 is connected to the document creating device 2 and each electronic P device created by the document creating device 2.
Data required for OP (advertisement / guidance) are stored in multiple electronic P
It is transmitted to the OP devices 1, 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the electronic POP device.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 is a CPU for controlling the electronic POP apparatus 1, and the CPU 11 is an RA according to a control microprogram stored in the ROM 12.
A value necessary for various operations is calculated while exchanging data with the M13, and a control signal for controlling a print control unit 16, a wireless transmission control unit 19 and the like to be described later based on the processed data. Output.

The CPU 11 includes a ROM 12 that stores a micro program for control that controls various operations of the electronic POP device including a POP printing process, and an RA that stores various data that includes a volatile memory that can be written and read.
M13, a CG (character generator) 14 for generating a character, and an electronic POP stored in the RAM 13
A print control unit 16 that controls the print unit 15 to read and print data (advertisement / guidance text) line by line, and a wireless transmission control unit that controls a wireless device 18 that wirelessly transmits and receives data via an antenna 17. 19 and a power supply device 20 that supplies a predetermined power to each unit are connected.

The CPU 11 controls processing information relating to print information input from the wireless transmission control unit 19 and each unit based on various control programs stored in the ROM 12, and stores received print data and the like in the RAM 13, while The character pattern corresponding to the received print data is read from the CG (character generator) 14 and stored in the print data buffer 21 (described later), and the printing unit 1
Print with 5.

The RAM 13 is used as a so-called working memory for temporarily storing data relating to electronic POP control, data used for computation, computation results, etc.
Specifically, the RAM 13 is provided with a print data buffer 21 that stores the received print data for one screen, and a work memory that temporarily stores the data that is being processed. Here, the print data buffer 21 temporarily stores the character pattern input from the CPU 11 and outputs the character pattern to the print controller 16 to output the character pattern.
At 5, the line is read and printed line by line.

The CG 14 generates a character pattern for printing by the printing unit 15 in response to a request from the CPU 11 and outputs it to the CPU 11.

The printing unit 15 uses a printer using a thermal line head as a high speed and high resolution printing mechanism. Printer using a thermal line head (therma
l printer) is a thermal head, thermal paper 40
A thermal element for printing various data (described later),
A shift register is provided, and print data for one line printed on thermal paper is stored in the shift register.
The print data stored in the shift register is supplied to the thermal element via an AND gate provided for each character. An enable signal is input to the AND gate from the print control unit 16, and when the print data for one line is ready to be printed, the enable signal becomes active and the data stored in the print data buffer 21 is line by line. Read and print.

The antenna 17 is the wireless modem 3
It receives a call signal wirelessly transmitted from and outputs it to the wireless device 18. The wireless device 18 is controlled by the intermittent signal input from the transmission control unit 19, intermittently receives the call signal input from the antenna 17, amplifies and demodulates the received signal, and outputs the amplified signal to the transmission control unit 19.

The transmission control section 19 determines whether or not the calling number of the calling signal input from the wireless device 18 matches its own identification number.
The signal reception of the wireless device 18 is continued and a call detection signal is output to the CPU 11 if the two match. In addition, the transmission control unit 19 outputs processing information such as print data received together with the calling signal to the CPU 11 based on the request input from the CPU 11.

The power supply device 20 includes a stabilized power supply and DC / DC.
It is composed of a converter and the like, and converts the power from the AC100V external power cord 20a or the battery 20b such as a car battery into a predetermined voltage and supplies it to each part of the electronic POP device 1. A control signal from the CPU 11 is input to the power supply device 20, and the power supply device 20 starts and stops the supply of power by the control signal, and particularly starts and stops the supply of power to the wireless device 18.

The wireless modem 3 has an antenna 3
0, a wireless device 31 that wirelessly transmits and receives print data via the antenna 30, a wireless transmission control unit 32 that controls the wireless device 31, and a power supply device 33 that supplies a predetermined power to each unit.

The antenna 30 wirelessly transmits the data (advertisement / guidance text) from the wireless device 31 to the plurality of electronic POP devices 1, 1 ... And outputs the data from the wireless device 31.

The radio device 31 is controlled by the intermittent signal input from the transmission control unit 32, intermittently receives the ringing signal input from the antenna 30, amplifies and demodulates the received signal and outputs it to the transmission control unit 32. . The wireless device 31 is a transmission station that transmits data by radio waves of a specific frequency, and a specific low power wireless station (operating frequency band: 40
0 MHz, 1.2 GHz band, antenna power: 10 mW or less, communicable distance: 100 to 200 m or less) can be used.

The transmission control unit 33 controls the transfer of data from the document creation device 2 such as a personal computer, and also controls the wireless device 31 to wirelessly send the transferred data to the plurality of electronic POP devices 1. .

The power supply device 20 is composed of a stabilized power supply and the like, converts the power supply into a predetermined voltage, and supplies it to each part of the wireless modem 3.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electronic POP device, FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an electronic POP device. In FIG. 3, the main body 1a of the electronic POP device 1 is composed of a front surface case 10a and a rear surface case 10b, and the front surface case 10a and the rear surface case 10b can be rotated and opened with hinges 10c and 10c as fulcrums. Has become. The front surface case 10a and the rear surface case 10b are provided with feet 10d, 10d, ... For stably erecting the main body 1a, and a PCB 22, an electronic component 23, an antenna 17, and A are provided at the bottom of the main body 1a.
C code 20a, car battery 20b, winder 24,
A box 10e for storing a relatively heavy member such as the transformer 25 is formed. Further, the front case 10a has a cutout window 1b for displaying a printed matter.
The cutout window 1b is provided with a protective portion 1f made of transparent reinforced plastic for protecting the inside. Further, the printing unit 15 provided with rollers and the like is installed in the lower portion and upper portion that are not exposed from the cutout window 1b.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the electronic POP device 1
On the main body 1a, a paper feed roller 41 on which the thermal paper 40 to be printed is wound, is attached to the upper portion of the main body 1a so as to hold the printed thermal paper 40 so that the thermal paper 40 can be wound up. The take-up roller 43 is provided coaxially with the take-up roller 43 and the take-up roller 43.
3, a motor 46 for rotationally driving 3, a thermal line head 47 for printing one line of print data on the thermal paper 40 sent from the paper feed roller 41, a film roller 49 on which a transparent film 48 to be printed is wound, and a delivery. A winding roller 51 that winds the transparent film 48 and is mounted on the upper portion of the main body 1a so as to hold the transparent film 48 that can be displayed, and a motor that is provided coaxially with the winding roller 51 and that rotationally drives the winding roller 43. 54,
A thermal line head 56 for thermally transferring and printing one line of print data on the transparent film 48 sent from the film roller 49 by the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55, a fluorescent lamp 57, and a PCB in the box 10e at the bottom of the main body 1a.
22, electronic component 23, antenna 17, AC cord 20
a, car battery 20b, winder 24 and transformer 2
5 are provided.

The thermal paper 40 is a thermal paper that develops color by heat from the thermal line head 47. The thermal paper has a base paper on which a sensitizer, a color developer, and a color former are applied in a predetermined thickness. It is a thing. In addition, the thermal paper 40
The transparent film 48 arranged so as to cover the outer side of the is a colorless transparent, colored transparent or opaque film, and transfers heat from the thermal line head 56 to the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 in the same manner as the thermal paper 40, thereby transferring the heat. The ink in the ink ribbon 55 is transferred to the transparent film 4
It is transcribed as an arbitrary character or the like on 8. The transparent film 48 is provided with a marker (not shown) indicating the identification of each area at the end of each area of colorless transparent, colored transparent or opaque, and this marker can be read by a reading unit (not shown). Thus, the film area of a desired color or print content can be stopped and displayed at a predetermined position.

The thermal paper 40 and the paper feed roller 4
1, the motor 46, the thermal line head 47, the transparent film 48, the film roller 49, the motor 54, the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55, and the thermal line head 56 constitute the printing unit 15 as a whole.

As shown in FIG. 3, the main body 1a has hinges 10c, 10c for the front case 10a and the rear case 10b.
Is used as a fulcrum so that the thermal paper 40, the transparent film 48, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 are opened when the thermal paper 40, the transparent film 48, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 are replaced, so that the thermal paper 40 and the like can be easily replaced. .

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the screen data input processing executed in the document creation device 2 such as a personal computer. The screen data input by this flow is transferred to the electronic POP device 1.

First, in step S11, it is determined whether or not there is a screen designation to be a print screen for printing on thermal paper,
If the screen is designated, the screen pointer is moved in step S12 and the process proceeds to step S14. If the screen is not designated, the screen pointer is moved to an empty screen position in step S13 and the process proceeds to step S14.

In step S14, it is determined whether or not there is input data. If there is input data, the memory at the screen pointer position is stored in step S15, and the process returns to step S14. If there is no input data, it is determined in step S16 whether or not the input is finished. For example, when the end key is operated, it is determined that the input is finished and the process of this flow is finished, and if the input is not finished, the step is finished. It returns to S14 and repeats the above-mentioned processing.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a data transfer process executed in the document creation device 2 such as a personal computer, and the wireless modem 3 according to this flow.
The print data is transferred to the plurality of electronic POP devices 1, 1 ...

First, the IDs assigned to the plurality of electronic POP devices 1, 1 ... Currently stored in step S21.
No (identification number) is initialized once, and step S2
2. Call the ID No of the electronic POP device to be specified in 2. This call is wirelessly transmitted to the electronic POP devices 1, 1 ... By the connected wireless modem 3, and the electronic POP device with the designated ID No returns a response to the wireless modem 3 side within a predetermined time.

When an ACK (affirmative) response is received from the electronic POP device having the designated ID No (step S2)
3) The screen parameters are initialized in step S24, and one screen is transferred to the designated screen memory in step S25. Here, there may be many screens to be transferred, so a screen parameter designating a predetermined screen is initialized and the screen is transferred according to this screen parameter. Next, in step S26, the screen parameter is incremented and updated, and in step S27, it is determined whether or not the transfer is completed for all screens. If the entire screen has not ended, the process returns to step S25 and the above processing is repeated until the transfer for the entire screen ends. When the entire screen ends, the end command is transferred in step S28 and the process proceeds to step S29.

In step S29, the ID No is incremented and updated (ID No + 1), and in step S30, it is determined whether or not all the ID Nos.
If the No check is not completed, the process returns to step S22 to call the next designated ID No, and all ID N
Screen transfer is performed for the electronic POP device of o. When all ID Nos. Are completed, all IDs are set in step S31.
It is determined whether or not the transfer to the No electronic POP device is completed. If the transfer of all ID Nos is not completed, the process returns to step S21 and the above process is repeated. When the transfer of all ID Nos is completed, The flow process ends. It is determined that the transfer of all the ID Nos. Has been completed is that when an NCK (negative) response is received from the electronic POP device, the electronic POP device is recalled and the processing is completed. This is for checking.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the data printing process executed in the electronic POP apparatus 1, and the print data transferred from the document creating apparatus 2 side is printed by this flow.

First, in step S41, data for n screens is received and stored in the print data buffer 21, and it is determined in step S42 whether or not there is a print start trigger. If there is no print start trigger, it is checked in step S43 whether there is an end command. If there is an end command, this flow is ended, and if there is no end command, step S4
Return to 2 and wait for the print start trigger. Here, the trigger to start printing is determined by the designation included in the received command. For example, (1) Start printing immediately after receiving, (2) Start printing at a predetermined set time, (3) Start printing depending on the surrounding brightness (for example, when dark, print menu data at night. Yes, there is.

When there is a print start trigger, screen parameters for one screen are designated in step S44. Here, the reception screen memory is selected according to the above-mentioned trigger for starting printing. Next, the line designation parameter is initialized in step S45, and the print data is read from the print data buffer 21 in step S46. Next, the CG 14 generates a character pattern based on the print data read in step S47 to convert the character data into character data, and the character data generated in step S48 is enlarged / reduced and decoratively printed according to the setting. In the character conversion by the CG 14, for example, outline font conversion is performed.

Next, in step S49, the line designation parameter is updated, and in step S50, it is determined whether or not all lines have ended. If all lines have not ended, the process returns to step S46 to end all lines on the specified screen. The above printing is repeated until all the lines are completed, and when all the lines are completed, the process returns to step S42 to wait for the next print start trigger.

Although the thermal paper 40 is printed by the printing process shown in FIG. 7, not only the thermal paper 40 but also the transparent film 48 can be printed in the same manner.

By executing the above print processing flow, the print section 15 of the electronic POP device 1 specifically performs the following operation.

Printing / Holding Operation in Electronic POP Device 1 When one line of print data converted into character data is output to a shift register (not shown) in the printing section 15, it is stored in the shift register. The print data is supplied to a thermal element forming the thermal line head 47 via an AND gate (not shown) provided for each character. An enable signal is input from the print control unit 16 to the AND gate, and when the print data for one line is ready to be printed, the enable signal becomes active and the print data is read line by line and the paper feed roller 41 is used. The printed thermal paper 40 is sent out.

Thermal paper 40 on which print data is printed
Is taken up by the take-up roller 43 which receives the rotational driving force from the motor 46, and at this time, the electronic POP device 1
The winding roller 43 attached to the upper part of the main body 1a is wound up while being wound up. In this case, since the rotational force on the take-up roller 43 side is set to be slightly stronger than the rotational force on the paper-feed roller 41 side, the thermal paper 40 pulled upward by the take-up roller 43 does not loosen.

Thermal paper 40 printed by this
However, since it is held in a state of being caught by the take-up roller 43, desired advertisements / guidances can be displayed in the display window area 60 of the cutout portion 1b formed on the front surface of the main body 1a.

Similar to the case of the thermal paper 40, the transparent film 48 having the colorless and transparent, colored and transparent or opaque areas to which the print data is transferred is moved by the winding roller 51 which receives the rotational driving force from the motor 54. It is wound up, and at this time, it is wound up while being pulled up and pulled up by a winding roller 51 attached to the uppermost part of the main body 1a of the electronic POP device 1. In this case as well, since the rotational force on the take-up roller 51 side is set to be slightly stronger than the rotational force on the film roller 49 side, the transparent film 48 is taken up by the take-up roller 51 without slack.

When displaying, the printing unit 5
The fluorescent lamp 57 installed in the lamp 9 is energized to turn on the fluorescent lamp 5.
7 is emitted and the light emitted from the fluorescent lamp 57 is guided from the inside of the printing unit 59 to the upper portion of the main body 1a while reflecting between the thermal paper 40 and the transparent film 48.
0 and the entire transparent film 48 are uniformly illuminated. That is, the print data such as advertisements and guidance printed on the thermal paper 40 is illuminated with the light emitted from the fluorescent lamp 57 for easy viewing, and the light reflected from the white thermal paper 40 with high brightness is displayed through the transparent film 48. Appearing outside the window area 60, the entire display window area 60 is displayed so as to appear brightly.

The transparent film 48 printed by this
However, in the state where it is caught by the driven roller 50,
In addition, the thermal paper 40 held at the predetermined position is held so as to cover the thermal paper 40 with the advertisement / guidance printed on the display window region 60 formed on the front surface of the main body 1a. It can be displayed in a visible state (when a colored and transparent film area is used).

As described above, the printing unit 15 of the electronic POP device 1 according to the present embodiment uses the thermal paper 4 to be printed.
0 is wound up on the paper feed roller 41, the take-up roller 43 is attached to the upper part of the main body 1a and winds up the printed thermal paper 40, the motor 46 for rotating the take-up roller 43, and the paper feed roller 41. A thermal line head 47 for printing one line of print data on the thermal paper 40, a film roller 49 on which a transparent film 48 to be printed is wound, and a winding roller for winding the transparent film 48 on the main body 1a. 5
1, a motor 54 for rotating the take-up roller 43, a thermal line head 56 for thermally transferring and printing one line of print data on the transparent film 48 by the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55, a fluorescent lamp 57, and a box 10e at the bottom of the main body 1a. PCB 22, electronic component 23, antenna 17,
AC cord 20a, car battery 20b, winder 24
And a transformer 25, a cutout window 1b for displaying a printed matter is formed on the surface case 10a, and a protection portion 1f for protecting the inside is attached to the cutout window 1b. Since the printing unit 15 provided with a roller or the like is installed on the lower portion and the upper portion which are not exposed from the cutout window 1b, the character size and the typeface are not the same as those of an advertisement / guide plate using LEDs or the like. Eliminating the drawbacks of natural display characters, anyone can display advertisements / guidance with beautiful characters and designs at low cost,
Usability and range of use can be expanded significantly.

Also, the bottom box 10e inside the main body 1a.
Since relatively heavy members such as the AC cord 20a, the car battery 20b, the winder 24, and the transformer 25 are arranged in the main body 1a, the main body 1a is prevented from falling due to the weight and stability. Can be increased.

In this embodiment, the electronic POP device 1 is
Although it is applied to the vertically placed one, it is of course not limited to this, and other shapes such as a horizontally placed one may be used. Also in this case, if a heavy member is arranged at the bottom, the stability can be further improved.

Second Embodiment FIGS. 8 to 14 are views showing a second embodiment of the printer.
This embodiment is an electronic POP capable of displaying both front and back sides.
It is an example applied to a device. In the description of this embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment will be designated by the same reference numerals, and the description of the overlapping parts will be omitted.

First, the structure will be described. 8 to 11 are external views of the electronic POP device, FIG. 8 is an external view of the front side in the large window display state, FIG. 9 is an external view of the back side thereof, and FIG. 10 is the front side in the small window display state. FIG. 11 is an external view of the back side of FIG.

8 to 11, the electronic POP device 1 is shown.
The main body 1a has a built-in printing unit 15 that reads out print data line by line and prints it on the thermal paper, and holds the printed matter printed on the thermal paper in the front cutout window 1b and the back cutout window 1c. The printing device is used as an advertisement / guidance plate by doing so. 8 to 11
Inside 1d is a sign attached to the main body 1a, and FIG.
And in FIG. 11, 61 rises in the small window display state,
This is a shutter that switches the thermal paper display area displayed in the cutout windows 1b and 1c to a small display area.

12 to 14 are sectional views showing the structure of the electronic POP device, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the structure of the electronic POP device, and FIGS. 13 and 14 are sectional views for explaining the operation of the shutter mechanism. It is a figure.

In FIG. 12, a body 1a of the electronic POP device 1 is attached to a paper feed roller 41 on which a thermal paper 40 to be printed is wound, and an upper portion of the body 1a for holding the printed thermal paper 40 in a displayable manner. Driven roller 42, and thermal paper 40 guided by the driven roller 42
Winding roller 43 for winding up, driven rollers 42, 4
A motor 46 for rotating 3 through belts 44 and 45, a thermal line head 47 for printing one line of print data on the thermal paper 40 sent from the paper feed roller 41, and a transparent film 48 to be printed. The film roller 49 on which the film was wound, the transparent film 4 sent out
8, a driven roller 50 attached to the upper portion of the main body 1a that holds the display 8, a take-up roller 51 that winds the transparent film 48 guided by the driven roller 50, and rollers 49 and 51 that rotate via belts 52 and 53. A motor 54 for driving, a thermal line head 56 for thermally transferring and printing one line of print data by the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 onto the transparent film 48 sent from the film roller 52, the fluorescent lamps 57, 57, and a shutter mechanism are held. Alternatively, a shutter mechanism releasing member 58 for releasing is provided.

The thermal paper 40 and the paper feed roller 4
1, driven rollers 42, 43, belts 44, 45, motor 46, thermal line head 47, transparent film 4
8, film roller 49, driven rollers 50, 51,
Belts 52, 53, motor 54, thermal transfer ink ribbon 5
5 and the thermal line head 56 constitute the printing unit 15 as a whole.

Further, the paper feed roller 41, roller 43, belts 44 and 45, motor 46, thermal line head 47, film roller 49, roller 51, belts 52 and 53, motor 54, thermal transfer ink ribbon 5
5, the thermal line head 56, the fluorescent lamps 57, 57, and the shutter mechanism releasing member 58 are mounted in a printing unit 59 of a wagon-shaped housing, and the printing unit 59 includes a shutter 61 (described later). While engaged, the shutter rises in the small window display state and descends in the large window display state, and its front and back portions function as a shutter for switching the display window region 60.

The shutter mechanism releasing member 58 comprises a solenoid 58a and a lock mechanism 58b which locks the shutter mechanism when the solenoid 58a is displaced. The shutter mechanism releasing member 58 locks when the printing unit 59 functions as a shutter. To do.

Also in this embodiment, similarly to the first embodiment, a relatively heavy member such as the AC cord 20a, the car battery 20b, the winder 24 and the transformer 25 is provided in the bottom box inside the main body 1a. Since it is arranged in 10e, stability can be enhanced as a weight of the main body 1a.

As shown by the broken line portion in FIG.
The front surface of a has a structure in which it can be rotated and opened around a hinge 1e provided on the upper surface of the main body 1a as a fulcrum, and the thermal paper 40, the transparent film 48, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 55 can be formed.
The thermal paper 40 and the like are opened at the time of replacement so that the thermal paper 40 and the like can be easily replaced.

13 and 14 show the printing unit 5 described above.
9 is a cross-sectional view cut away so as to face the side surface of FIG.

In FIGS. 13 and 14, a shutter 61 for switching the display window area 60 is provided on the front surface and the back surface of the printing unit 59.
When the lock is released by the shutter mechanism release member 58, it is manually pulled up and locked so that an arbitrary area can be displayed, and when the lock is released by the shutter mechanism release member 58, the print unit 59 is engaged. It moves up and down in conjunction with each other.

On the side surface of the printing unit 59,
A support pin 63 that fixes one end of the drive belt 62, a winding roller 64 that winds the other end of the drive belt 62, and a drive motor 65 that is provided coaxially with the winding roller 64 and that rotationally drives the winding roller 64 are provided. At the upper part of the main body 1a of the electronic POP device 1, the driven roller 6 suspends the printing unit 59 by the drive belt 62 so as to be vertically movable.
6 is attached.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

Printing / Holding Operation in the Electronic POP Device 1 The thermal paper 40 on which the print data is printed is the motor 46.
It is taken up by the take-up roller 43 which receives the rotational driving force from the above, and at this time, it is taken up by the driven roller 42 attached to the upper part of the main body 1a of the electronic POP device 1, and then pulled by the take-up roller 43 below. It is rolled up while being caught. In this case, take-up roller 4
Since the rotational force on the 3 side is set to be slightly stronger than the rotational force on the paper feed roller 41 side, the thermal paper 4 which has been temporarily lifted up by the driven roller 42 and guided downward.
0 is wound up by the winding roller 43 without slack.

The thermal paper 40 printed by this
However, since it is held in a state of being caught by the driven roller 42, desired advertisements / guidances can be displayed in the display window regions 60, 60 formed on the front and back surfaces of the main body 1a.

As in the case of the thermal paper 40, the transparent film 48 having the colorless and transparent, colored and transparent or opaque areas to which the print data is transferred is driven by the winding roller 51 which receives the rotational driving force from the motor 54. After being wound up, the driven roller 50 attached to the uppermost part of the main body 1a of the electronic POP device 1 catches it upward, and then the lower winding roller 51 pulls it up. Also in this case, the winding roller 51
Since the rotational force on the side is set to be slightly stronger than the rotational force on the side of the film roller 49, the transparent film 48 which has been temporarily lifted up by the driven roller 50 and guided downward is wound by the winding roller 51 without slack. .

When displaying, the printing unit 5
The fluorescent lamps 57, 57 installed in the lamp 9 are energized to emit light, and the light emitted from the fluorescent lamps 57, 57 is emitted from the inside of the printing unit 59 between the thermal paper 40 and the transparent film 48. Is guided to the upper portion of the main body 1a while reflecting, and uniformly illuminates the entire thermal paper 40 and the transparent film 48.

The transparent film 48 printed by this
However, in the state where it is caught by the driven roller 50,
Further, the thermal paper 40, which is held so as to cover the thermal paper 40 held at the above-mentioned predetermined position, has the display window regions 60, 60 formed on the front and back surfaces of the main body 1a, on which the advertisement, guidance, etc. are printed. Can be displayed in a state where it is colored (when a colored transparent film region is used).

Shutter Operation in Electronic POP Device 1 In FIG. 12, when the shutter 61 is manually operated, the shutter mechanism releasing member 58 is unlocked and the shutter 61 is manually pulled up to be locked at an arbitrary position by frictional force. . Thereby, the display window regions 60, 60
The display area of the print data displayed on the screen can be made to have an arbitrary size. For example, when the print data is small as shown in FIGS. You can

On the other hand, when the shutter 61 is automatically operated, the solenoid 58 of the shutter mechanism releasing member 58 is used.
a is turned on, whereby the shutter 61 is engaged with the printing unit 59 by the lock mechanism 58b, and
In the large window display state shown in FIG. 13, by energizing the drive motor 65, the winding roller 64 is rotationally driven to start winding the other end of the drive belt 62.

The take-up roller 64 takes up the other end of the drive belt 62, so that the printing unit 59 engaged with the shutter 61 is lifted up, and the small window display as shown in the display window areas 67, 67 in FIG. When the printing unit 59 is lifted up to the state, the drive motor 65 is deenergized and stopped there. In this way, the printing unit 5
The printing unit 5 is moved by moving 9 itself upward.
A display window area 60, 6 is provided by a shutter 61 interlocking with 9
The print data display area displayed at 0 is shown in FIGS.
It is possible to change to the small window display state as shown in FIG.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the printing unit 59 itself moves to change the display area displayed in the display window areas 60, 60, the area without print data is simply hidden to display a small window. The thermal paper 40 and the transparent film 48 are not limited to the state
Since it suffices to print out and print, it is possible to greatly reduce the time required for printing and displaying, and to save the thermal paper 40 and the transparent film 48.

In each of the above embodiments, the printing device is
This is an example when applied to an electronic POP device used as a guide plate, but it is applicable to any device having a printing means for reading and printing data line by line and is not necessarily limited to an advertisement / guide plate. Needless to say

In each of the above embodiments, the electronic POP device is provided with the CG 14 for generating a character, and the data to be printed is converted and printed using the CG 14, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it goes without saying that the input image data may be printed as it is.

Further, although the thermal printer using the thermal line head is used as the printing unit 15 in each of the above embodiments, any printer may be used as long as it reads out and prints data line by line. For example, a dot printer may be used.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, data is transmitted by wireless communication, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be wired, for example. By doing so, a wireless device is not required and cost is reduced. Can be achieved. Further, it goes without saying that the electronic POP device may be provided with a data input device such as a keyboard to directly input data without performing data transmission.

[0086]

According to the present invention, the feeding roller for feeding the roll paper, the winding roller for winding the roll paper fed from the feeding roller, and the data provided between the feeding roller and the winding roller are provided. A print head for printing, a case having a cutout window cut out so that the printed roll paper is exposed in a configuration other than the above-mentioned configurations, a power supply unit for operating the above-mentioned configurations, and the cutout window protected Since it is provided with a protection section, it is possible to display a printed matter with beautiful characters as an electronic POP (advertisement / guidance board) easily and at low cost, and greatly expand the usability and the range of use.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block configuration diagram showing an example of a printing apparatus of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electronic POP device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the electronic POP device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a data input process of the document creating apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a data transfer process of the document creating apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a data printing process of the electronic POP apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an electronic PO of the second embodiment of the printing apparatus according to the present invention.
It is an external view of P apparatus.

FIG. 9 is an external view of the electronic POP device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an external view of the electronic POP device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an external view of the electronic POP device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic POP device of the same example.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic POP device of the same example.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of the electronic POP device of the same example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electronic POP device 1a Electronic POP device main body 1b, 1c Cutout window 1f Protecting part 2 Document creating device 3 Wireless modem 10a Front case 10b Back case 10e Box 11 CPU 12 ROM 13 RAM 14 CG (character generator) 15 Printing part 16 Printing Control unit 17,30 Antenna 18,31 Radio device 19,32 Wireless transmission control unit 20,33 Power supply device 21 Print data buffer 40 Thermal paper 41 Paper feed roller 42,50,66 Driven roller 43,51,64 Take-up roller 44 , 45, 52, 53 Belt 46, 54 Motor 47 Thermal line head 48 Transparent film 49 Film roller 52 Film roller 55 Thermal transfer ink ribbon 56 Thermal line head 57 Fluorescent lamp 58 Shutter mechanism solution Removing member 58a Solenoid 58b Lock mechanism 59 Printing unit 60, 67 Display window area 61 Shutter 62 Drive belt 63 Support pin 65 Drive motor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A delivery roller for delivering roll paper, a take-up roller for taking up roll paper delivered from the delivery roller, and a print head provided between the delivery roller and the take-up roller for printing data. A case having a cutout window cut out so that the printed roll paper is exposed in a configuration other than the above-described configurations, a power supply unit for operating each configuration, and a protection unit for protecting the cutout window, A printing device characterized by being provided.