JPH0761038A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate control for ensuring a printing speed and printing quality by providing a printing mechanism parts having a plurality of optical shutters capable of becoming independent mutually to respective optical fiber cables. CONSTITUTION:A part of the laser beam applied to thermal paper 5 is reflected but the remainder thereof is absorbed by the thermal paper 5 to be converted to heat energy to develop a color at the laser beam irradiated part of the thermal paper 5. A pair of optical fiber cables 3,2 correspond to one dot of the printing on the thermal paper 5 and the optical shutters 4 provided between respective pairs of fiber cables 3,2 are independently operated to cut off the passage of laser beam. Therefore, it can be selected whether a dot is printed on the basis of the presence of the operation of the optical shutters 4. By controlling the irradiation times of laser beam to the thermal paper 5 on the basis of the open times of the optical shutters 4, the heat energy generated on the thermal paper 5 can be controlled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer for printing by applying heat energy to heat-sensitive paper, and more particularly to means for applying heat energy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printer for printing by applying heat energy to thermal paper, a thermal head having a plurality of resistors is brought into close contact with the thermal paper to apply a plurality of resistances as a means for applying thermal energy. Printing is performed by applying electric energy to a designated resistor of the body to cause the resistor to generate heat, and transfer the thermal energy to the thermal paper by heat conduction to develop the color of the thermal paper.

[0003]

In the conventional printer as described above, since the resistor of the thermal head has a heat storage effect, the influence of the residual heat is large, and the influence of the residual heat is avoided to secure the printing speed and the print quality. It has the drawback that the control for doing so is complicated.

[0004]

The printer of the present invention uses laser light to selectively irradiate the thermal paper to the laser light, and the thermal energy generated on the thermal paper by the irradiation of the laser light causes thermal sensitivity. The color of paper is used for printing.

That is, the printer of the present invention is arranged such that a laser beam generator for generating a laser beam and a tip end portion of the printer connected to the laser beam generator are arranged at a position close to the thermal paper and each corresponds to a print dot. A sensor for measuring the temperature of a thermal paper is provided, which comprises a printing mechanism section having a plurality of pairs of optical fiber cables and a plurality of optical shutters provided in each of the optical fiber cables and capable of operating independently of each other. And a control unit that specifies the opening time of the optical shutter by a signal from the sensor unit.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printing mechanism portion of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of optical fiber cables 3 are connected to the laser light generator 1, and each optical fiber cable 3 is connected to a corresponding optical fiber cable 2 via an optical shutter 4. It is connected. The tip of the optical fiber cable 2 is arranged at a position close to the thermal paper 5. Therefore, the laser light emitted from the laser light generator 1 passes through the optical fiber cable 3, the optical shutter 4 and the optical fiber cable 2, and the thermal paper 5
Is irradiated.

A part of the laser light applied to the thermal paper 5 is reflected, but the remaining part is absorbed by the thermal paper 5 and converted into heat energy, and the part of the thermal paper 5 irradiated with the laser light is absorbed. To color.

The pair of optical fiber cables 3 and 2 are
The optical shutter 4 corresponding to one dot printed on the thermal paper 5 and provided between the fiber cables 3 and 2 is operated independently to block passage of the laser light. Therefore, it is possible to select whether or not to print the dots depending on whether or not the optical shutter 4 is operated. Further, by controlling the irradiation time of the laser light to the thermal paper 5 by the opening time of the optical shutter 4,
The heat energy generated on the thermal paper 5 can be controlled.

A printer having such a printing mechanism has a structure as shown in FIG.

The control unit 6 controls the overall operation of the printer. The external interface unit 7 exchanges data with an external device. The sensor unit 8 is a sensor that measures temperature, and measures the temperature of the thermal paper 5. The thermal paper transport unit 9 transports thermal paper.

Next, the operation of the printer configured as described above will be described.

First, all the optical shutters 4 are closed, laser light is emitted from the laser light generator 1, the temperature of the thermal paper 5 is measured by the sensor 8, and the thermal paper 5 is required to develop color. The irradiation time of the laser light, that is, the opening time of the optical shutter 4 is set. Next, based on the print data input by the external interface unit 7, the optical shutter 4 corresponding to the position of the dot to be printed is opened,
The optical shutter 4 is closed when a predetermined time has elapsed.
Next, the thermal paper transport unit 9 is operated to transport the thermal paper 5 by one dot line, the temperature of the thermal paper 5 is measured by the sensor unit 8, and the above-described operation is repeated.

[0015]

As described above, the printer of the present invention uses a laser beam and selectively irradiates the thermal paper with the laser beam, whereby the thermal paper is colored by the thermal energy generated in the thermal paper. By performing the printing in this way, the influence of the residual heat due to the heat storage effect is eliminated, so that there is an effect that the control for ensuring the printing speed and the printing quality becomes easy. Also, by changing the irradiation time of the laser light, the thermal energy generated in the thermal paper can be controlled,
There is also an effect that the control at the time of color printing can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printing mechanism portion of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Laser Light Generation Section 2.3 Optical Fiber Cable 4 Optical Shutter 5 Thermal Paper 6 Control Section 7 External Interface Section 8 Sensor Section 9 Thermal Paper Transport Section

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam generator for generating a laser beam,
A plurality of pairs of optical fiber cables connected to the laser beam generator and having their front ends in the vicinity of the thermal paper and each corresponding to a print dot, and the optical fiber cables provided in each of the optical fiber cables can operate independently of each other. A printer comprising a printing mechanism section having a plurality of optical shutters. 2. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a sensor section for measuring the temperature of the thermal paper and a control section for designating an opening time of the optical shutter by a signal from the sensor section.