JPH08207405A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To correctly change-over a color ink band by a method wherein in a printer in which an ink ribbon with a plurality of color ink bands arranged in the width direction thereof is shifted in the width direction thereof for conducting a color printing, an ink ribbon take-up device is driven after actuation of an ink ribbon shift device. CONSTITUTION: In an ink ribbon cartridge 2 containing an ink ribbon 1 with yellow, magenta, cyan, and black color ink bands arranged in the ribbon width direction in parallel to each other and being shakable about a journal 11, a take-up roller 5 driven by a take-up motor 6 is provided, and an ink ribbon shift device 7 is attached. The shift device 7 is so constructed that a planar shift member 10 is vertically moved by rotating a rotating gear 9 by a shift motor 8 that can be rotated forward and reverse. In this case, the take-up motor 6 is so controlled as to be driven after or simultaneously when the ink ribbon 1 is shifted by the shift device 7 before a printing head 3 is actuated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses an ink ribbon in which a plurality of color ink bands of cyan, magenta, yellow, black, etc. are formed in parallel with the ribbon winding direction in a direction perpendicular to the ribbon winding direction. The present invention relates to a type of printing device that performs color printing by adhering the ink of an ink ribbon to a paper (print medium) by dot pins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink ribbon in which ink bands of plural colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are arranged in the width direction is interposed between a paper and a print head, and the ink ribbon is wound to perform color printing on the paper. Printing devices are known. In this type of color printing apparatus, the ink ribbon is moved in the ribbon width direction each time the color to be printed changes (hereinafter,
The ink band of the print color is located in front of the print head.

[0003]

FIGS. 6 and 7 are views for explaining this conventional example. FIG. 6 is a conceptual side view of the printing section, and FIG. 7 is a catching state when the ink ribbon is shifted. FIG. 3 is a front view of the ink ribbon and the print head mask shown.

In FIG. 6, reference numeral 1 is an ink ribbon, 3 is a print head, 4 is a print head mask placed between the ribbon 1 and the head 3, and the ink ribbon 1 is wound in a direction perpendicular to the drawing. It is like this.

Ink ribbon 1 having multiple color ink bands
In the case of using for a long time, the ribbon material stretches and becomes wavy as shown in FIG. Moreover, even if it is not used for a long period of time, a slight waviness occurs due to various tensions.

When such a wavy phenomenon occurs, when the ink ribbon 1 is shifted during the printing operation, as shown in FIG. 7, due to friction between the ink ribbon 1 and the print head mask 4, or the print head mask 4 Opening 4a
In some cases, the ink ribbon 1 may be caught in the ink ribbon, and thus the ink ribbon 1 may not be accurately shifted to the desired ink band.

The present invention has been made on the basis of such a background, and eliminates the mistaken shift of the ink ribbon due to friction or catching and accurately switches the color ink bands to obtain a high-quality color printed matter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can perform printing.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print head, an ink ribbon in which color ink bands of a plurality of colors are arranged in parallel in the width direction, and an ink for winding the ink ribbon. A printing device for color printing, comprising: a ribbon winding device; and an ink ribbon shift device that shifts an ink ribbon in a width direction relative to the print head to switch color ink bands in front of the print head. It is characterized in that the ink ribbon shift device is provided with a control device for outputting a drive control signal to the ink ribbon winding device after the ink ribbon is shifted and before or at the same time as the print head is operated.

Here, it is desirable that the control device varies the winding distance of the ink ribbon according to the distance of shifting the ink ribbon.

[0010]

According to the present invention, when the ink ribbon is shifted to switch the color ink band, the ink ribbon is wound before the print head is operated after the shift or at the same time. As a result, even if the ink ribbon is caught or comes into contact with the head mask etc. during shifting, by winding the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon is free from catching and slack, and is stretched straight with appropriate tension. Will be done. As a result, the correct colored swath is located in front of the printhead, after which the printhead is activated.

When winding is performed simultaneously with the shift,
It also has an effect of preventing catching and slack, and since it does not consume extra time for winding, it is excellent in printing efficiency.

In general, the slack of the ink ribbon caused by the shift may increase as the shift distance increases, so that the winding distance required to remove the slack also increases. Therefore, by changing the take-up distance of the ink ribbon according to the shift distance of the ink ribbon, it becomes possible to reliably remove the slack of the ink ribbon with a necessary and sufficient take-up distance. It is possible to prevent the deterioration of quality or provide a printer with no operation error.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a print head and an ink ribbon cartridge (hereinafter simply referred to as a cartridge) portion of a printing apparatus according to this embodiment. In addition, in this figure, an ink ribbon winding device, an ink ribbon shift device, and the like, which will be described later, are conceptually shown.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an elongated flexible endless ink ribbon impregnated with ink, and the surface thereof has a yellow (Y) color ink band 1a and a magenta (M) color as shown in FIG. Ink band 1b, cyan (C)
The color ink band 1c and the black (Bk) color ink band 1d are
They are arranged parallel to each other in the ribbon width direction.

The ink ribbon 1 is contained in a cartridge 2. The cartridge 2 has a main body portion 2a for accommodating the endless long ink ribbon 1 by folding it in multiple layers in the winding direction, and a curved delivery arm 2b for guiding the ink ribbon 1 delivered from the main body portion 2a. It is composed of a curved drawing arm 2c that faces the drawing arm 2b and guides the ink ribbon 1 drawn into the main body 2a. The print head 3 is arranged in a space formed between the main body 2a and the arms 2b and 2c.

Feeding arm 2b and retracting arm 2c
There is a predetermined distance between the front end facing portions of the above, and this gap serves as the printing opening 2d. In the print opening 2d, the ink ribbon 1 is spread by tension so as to be parallel to a sheet (print medium) not shown, and faces the print head 3 inside thereof with a minute gap. Further, a plate-shaped print head mask 4 is also provided outside the ink ribbon 1 stretched in parallel at the print opening 2d with a minute interval.
Are facing each other. The paper is set further outside. The ink attached to the ink ribbon 1 is applied to the paper by the pressure of the dot pin of the print head 3 through a mask opening (not shown) formed in the center of the print head mask 4.

Inside the cartridge 2 is the ink ribbon 1
Is provided with a winding roller 5 for winding the
The winding roller 5 is driven by a winding motor (for example, a stepping motor) 6. Here, the winding roller 5 and the winding motor 6 constitute an ink ribbon winding device. The position of the winding motor 6 shown in the drawing is merely a conceptual one, and the actual arrangement is not limited to this.

Reference numeral 7 is an ink ribbon shift device. The ink ribbon shift device 7 has a forward / reverse shift motor 8, a rotary gear 9 fixed to the motor shaft, and teeth meshing with the rotary gear 9, and is a plate-like member that moves up and down as indicated by a double-headed arrow A. And the shift member 10 of FIG.

A swinging support shaft 11 is provided near the rear end side of the main body 2a of the cartridge 2 (opposite to the printing opening 2d), and the cartridge 2 swings by its own weight or by a spring force (not shown). The tip end side (the printing opening 2d side) is biased downward around the dynamic support shaft 11, and the upper end surface of the shift member 10 and the bottom surface of the main body portion 2a are always in contact with each other.

Accordingly, the cartridge 2 swings slightly around the swing support shaft 11 in conjunction with the vertical movement of the shift member 10 (direction of the double arrow A), whereby the ink ribbon 1 is moved relative to the print head 3. Shift in the width direction (indicated by arrow C),
Any one of the plural color ink bands 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d is selected.

Next, the printing operation (printing operation) will be briefly described.

When the print head 3 is actuated by the arrival of print data from a host computer (not shown), the winding motor 6 is rotated, and the winding roller 5 is rotated to wind the ink ribbon 1. In this state, the print head 3 always faces a different position in the winding direction of the ink ribbon 1, and through the opening 4a (see FIG. 7) of the print head mask 4, a predetermined color ink band is formed on the paper in front of it. Print with ink.

In this process, every time the print color is changed,
The ink ribbon 1 is shifted in the width direction C to switch to the designated color ink band.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the main part of this embodiment.

This block diagram shows a control operation related to the present invention, that is, by winding the ink ribbon 1 with the shift of the ink ribbon 1 as described later, an appropriate tension is applied to the ink ribbon 1 to shift the ink ribbon 1. Ink ribbon 1
Only the parts necessary for the control operation for eliminating the catching and slack of the are shown.

In this figure, 21 is a control device,
The drive control signal 2 is sent to the ink ribbon winding device drive unit 22.
3 is output, and the ink ribbon shift device drive unit 24 is further output.
The drive control signal 25 is output to the. The winding motor 6 and the shift motor 8 are electrically connected to the drive units 22 and 24.

Further, the ink ribbon shift position calculation unit 26 for calculating the shift amount of the ink ribbon 1, the ink ribbon 1
And an ink ribbon take-up amount calculation unit 27 for calculating the take-up amount.

The ink ribbon shift position calculation unit 2
The controller 6 inputs the ink ribbon position data 28 indicating the position of the color ink band of the color to be printed from the control device 21, and based on the ink ribbon position data 28, the color specified from the current color ink band. Ink ribbon shift amount data 29 indicating the distance to the ink band is calculated. The ink ribbon shift amount data 29 is output from the ink ribbon shift position calculation unit 26 to the control device 21 and the ink ribbon winding amount calculation unit 27, respectively.

Further, the ink ribbon winding amount calculation unit 27
Calculates the ink ribbon take-up amount data 30 based on the ink ribbon shift amount data 29, and uses this to calculate the control device 2
Output to 1. Here, this calculation is performed so that the larger the shift amount is, the larger the winding amount is. That is, since the winding amount calculated here is for removing the catch and slack of the ribbon caused by the ribbon shift, the larger the shift amount is, the larger the slack is. Therefore, it is sufficient to remove it. The amount of winding at different distances is calculated.

With the above-described structure, as shown in the flow chart described later, the shift distance of the ink ribbon 1 is changed after the ink ribbon 1 is shifted and before the print head is operated, or at the same time when the ink ribbon 1 is shifted. The ink ribbon 1 is wound up by a distance corresponding to it.

The specific operation will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the ink ribbon shift position calculation unit 26 calculates the shift position (S1), and the ink ribbon shift amount data 29 is output. The ink ribbon winding amount calculation unit 27 calculates the winding amount based on this data 29 (S2), and the ink ribbon winding amount data 3
0 is output.

The controller 21 outputs a drive control signal 25 to the ink ribbon shift device driver 24 (S3), whereby the ink ribbon 1 is shifted by the distance indicated by the shift amount data 29. At the time when the shift of the ink ribbon 1 is completed (Y in S4) and before the print head is operated, the control device 21 sends a drive control signal 23 to the ink ribbon take-up device drive section 22 based on the take-up amount data 30. Is output (S5). Then, when the winding of the ink ribbon 1 is completed (Y in S6), this flow is exited. As a result, the ink ribbon 1 is wound by the distance indicated by the winding amount data 30. As a result, the ribbon catching and slack caused by the shift are removed, so that the correct color ink band is located in front of the head. After that, the print head is driven to print dots on the paper.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the control contents according to a modification of the processing of FIG.

In this flow, the same processes as steps S1 and S2 shown in FIG. 3 are performed in steps S11 and S12.

Thereafter, while the ink ribbon 1 is being shifted (N in S3, S4), the control device 21 causes the drive control signal 23 to the ink ribbon take-up device drive section 22.
Is output (S15), and winding is performed by a distance corresponding to the shift distance of the ink ribbon 1. As a result, catching and slack caused by the shift are removed or prevented, and the correct color ink band is located in front of the head. Then, when the winding of the ink ribbon 1 is completed (Y in S16), this flow is exited.

As described above, in the control shown in FIG. 3, the winding operation is performed immediately after the shift of the ink ribbon 1 is completed,
On the other hand, in the modified example shown in FIG. 4, the ink ribbon 1 is shifted and wound at the same time.

In any control, it is possible to remove the catch or slack of the ink ribbon 1 caused by the shift to accurately switch the color ink bands, thereby ensuring high quality color printing. From the viewpoint of increasing the printing speed, the control of FIG. 4 in which shift and winding are performed simultaneously is superior.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing that the shift distance differs depending on the selected color ink band.

Assuming that the cyan color ink band 1c is currently selected, if the next color ink band to be selected is the magenta color ink band 1b, the shift of the ink ribbon 1 is L1. If the next selected color ink band is the yellow color ink band 1a, the shift distance is L.
2 (L2> L1).

When the shift distance of the ink ribbon 1 is different as described above, the slack amount of the ink ribbon 1 is also slightly different as described above (the slack amount is large when the shift distance is long). In this embodiment, since the winding amount is changed according to the shift distance, the slack can be reliably eliminated, and the ink ribbon 1 can always be stretched straight with an appropriate tension.

The slack may be eliminated by uniquely winding the longest distance according to the longest shift distance. However, compared to this case, when the winding amount is changed as in the present embodiment, the extra winding time is not consumed, and therefore the color printing time can be shortened.

[0044]

According to the present invention, by eliminating the slack of the ink ribbon, it is possible to accurately move the ink ribbon in the vertical direction during color printing, thus providing a highly reliable color printing apparatus. be able to.

When the winding amount is changed according to the shift amount, the operation efficiency in color printing can be increased in addition to the above effects.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a printing unit of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of main parts of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a control operation of the same embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a modified example of the control operation of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing that the moving distance in the vertical direction varies depending on the selected color ink band.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual side view of a printing unit showing a state where the ink ribbon has a wavy shape.

FIG. 7 is a front view of an ink ribbon and a print head mask showing a caught state when the ink ribbon is moved in a vertical direction.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 ink ribbon 2 ink ribbon cartridge 3 print head 5 take-up roller 6 take-up motor 7 ink ribbon shift device 21 control device 26 ink ribbon shift position calculation unit 27 ink ribbon take-up amount calculation unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A print head, an ink ribbon in which color ink bands of a plurality of colors are arranged in parallel in the width direction, an ink ribbon winding device for winding the ink ribbon, and the print head for the ink ribbon in the width direction. A printing device for color printing, comprising: an ink ribbon shift device for switching color ink bands in front of the print head by shifting the ink ribbon after the ink ribbon shift device shifts the ink ribbon. 2. A printing apparatus comprising: a control device that outputs a drive control signal to the ink ribbon winding device before the print head operates or at the same time when the print head is shifted. 2. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the control device varies a winding distance of the ink ribbon according to a distance of shifting the ink ribbon.