JPH09169132A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal transfer printer capable of detecting a peeling condition a seal recording paper. SOLUTION: A seal recording paper 10 consists of a base paper in which an adhesive layer is formed on a side opposite to a recording side and a transparent backing paper protecting the adhesive layer. The base paper and adhesive layer are precut to a plurality of partitions. Optical sensors 20, 21 consisting of four pairs of sensors corresponding to the number of partitions in the width direction of the seal recording paper 10, detect presence or absence of the seal recording paper 10. When the seal recording paper 10 is partly peeled, the part becomes transparency so that output of the optical sensors 20, 21 indicates a condition of the absence of paper. Since a microcomputer 22 counts driving pulses of a driving roller 3, in the case where the output of the optical sensor 20 indicates the condition of the absence of paper when the counted value is smaller than a prescribed number, it is judged that the part of the paper is peeled.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer using a line thermal head, and more particularly to a thermal transfer printer capable of detecting peeling of a sticker recording paper and conveyance of a recording paper which is out of regulation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer printer (a so-called video printer) which captures a video signal such as video into a memory as a still image and prints it on a recording sheet based on the image data.
It has been known. In a video printer, a sublimation transfer ink or a melt transfer ink is heated by a line thermal head to transfer the ink to a recording paper to obtain a desired image. As one of recording papers used in a video printer, there is a so-called sticker recording paper in which an adhesive layer is provided on the back surface of the recording surface and the adhesive layer is protected by the back paper. If a sticker recording paper is used, the backing paper can be peeled off after printing and can be attached to various things.

Some of the sticker recording papers are so-called pre-cut, which are preliminarily cut into a predetermined size and divided into a plurality of sections. The precut-cut sticker recording paper is used in a video printer having an image processing function adapted to precut. For example, if images are captured in a memory as a plurality of small-sized images and printed on sticker recording paper that has been precut into a plurality of sections (multi-print function), a plurality of small stickers can be created by one printing. be able to.

[0004]

However, the precut sticker recording paper is easily peeled off from the backing paper by bending or the like, and when the partially peeled sticker recording paper is fed to the printer, during recording, Since the line thermal head does not press-contact the sticker recording paper at the peeled portion, wrinkles are generated in the ink ribbon, causing a defect in printing on another recording surface. Further, since the heating element of the line thermal head is energized based on the image even in the peeled portion, not only the heating element abnormally heats up and the recording density of the surrounding area becomes high, but also
There is a problem that the life of the line thermal head is shortened due to abnormal heating, and in the worst case, the heating element is burned out.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a thermal transfer printer capable of detecting peeling of a sticker recording paper and preventing problems caused by the peeling. The purpose is to provide.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that can detect that a non-regular recording sheet such as a sheet shorter or longer than a prescribed length has been conveyed.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides an ink ribbon (11) and a recording paper between a line thermal head (1) and a platen roller (2). In a thermal transfer printer that conveys (10) and the desired image on the recording paper, the first sensor is provided upstream of the platen roller and detects the presence or absence of the recording paper to be conveyed. (20)
And a second sensor (21) provided on the downstream side of the platen roller for detecting the presence or absence of the recording paper being conveyed.
And a counting means (22) for counting drive pulses for conveying the recording paper, and based on the outputs of the first and second sensors, or the outputs of the first and second sensors and the counting. There is provided a thermal transfer printer characterized by comprising an error detecting means (22) for detecting an error of the recording paper based on the output of the means.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a sticker recording paper used in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a flow chart for explaining the operation of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention.

In FIG. 1 or 2, the line thermal head 1 (shown only in FIG. 2) can be pressed against and separated from the platen roller 2 by means not shown. In FIG. 1, the line thermal head 1 is separated from the platen roller 2. An ink ribbon 1 is provided between the line thermal head 1 and the platen roller 2.
1 (illustrated only in FIG. 2) is stretched. A recording paper (as an example, between the ink ribbon 11 and the platen roller 2
The sticker recording paper 10) is conveyed and overlaid. The platen roller 2 is rotatably supported by a printer frame (not shown), and a pair of rollers including a driving roller 3 and a driven roller 4 are rotatably supported by the printer frame on the upstream side of the platen roller 2 during sheet feeding. Has been done.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drive roller 3 is driven by the rotational force obtained by decelerating the rotation of the stepping motor 5 by the pulleys 6, 7 and the timing belt 8. Since the driven roller 4 is biased toward the drive roller 3 by the pressing means 9 composed of a spring, the seal recording paper 10 sandwiched between the drive roller 3 and the driven roller 4 can be conveyed.
The rotation angle of the stepping motor 5 is determined by the number of pulses sent from the microcomputer (hereinafter, microcomputer) 22 to the stepping motor driver 23, and the recording paper conveyance amount is determined by the reduction ratio of the pulleys 6 and 7 and the diameter of the platen roller 2. To be done.

The conveyance path of the sticker recording paper 10 is the guide plate 1
3, 14 (only shown in FIG. 2), 15, ink ribbon 11
And an ink cassette 12 (shown only in FIG. 2) for accommodating the ink and a line thermal head 1. The ink cassette 12 includes a supply roll storage unit 16 and a winding roll 17, and the ink ribbon 11 is wound around a supply roll 18 and a winding roll 19.

The sticker recording paper 10 is, as shown in FIG.
An adhesive layer 10b is provided on the back surface of the base paper 10a having a recording surface, and a backing paper 10c made of a transparent film is attached to protect the adhesive layer 10b during printing. The base paper 10a and the adhesive layer 10b are pre-cut by cutting at a predetermined size and a predetermined position in advance, and can be partially peeled from the backing paper 10c.
In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, pre-cutting is performed on one sheet of sticker recording paper 10 so that 16 sheets of four rows and four columns can be obtained.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 and 2, the platen roller 2 is upstream of the sheet feeding, and the driving roller 3 is upstream of the sheet feeding, and is opposed to the light projecting element 20a with the transport path interposed therebetween. Four pairs of optical sensors 20 each including the light receiving element 20b are arranged in parallel with the driving roller. The optical sensor 20 detects the presence or absence of the sticker recording paper 10 on the upstream side of the platen roller 2. The mounting position of the optical sensor 20 in the recording width direction is provided in accordance with the positions of the pre-cut four rows of the sticker recording paper 10. Therefore, if the precut of the sticker recording paper 10 is 3 rows, the number of the optical sensors 20 may be 3 pairs. Platen roller 2
4 pairs of optical sensors 21 each including a light projecting element 21a and a light receiving element 21b opposed to each other across the transport path are provided in parallel with the platen roller 2 on the downstream side of the sheet feeding. The optical sensor 21 detects the presence or absence of the sticker recording paper 10 on the downstream side of the platen roller 2. Like the optical sensor 20, the mounting position of the optical sensor 21 in the recording width direction is aligned with the positions of the four rows of precuts of the sticker recording paper 10. Therefore, if the precut of the sticker recording paper 10 is three rows, the optical sensor 21
Also 3 pairs are enough.

The transport path length between these optical sensors 20 and 21 is set shorter than the length of the sticker recording paper 10.
In addition, these optical sensors 20 and 21 are used for the sticker recording paper 10.
Needless to say, the presence or absence of the recording paper can be detected as long as the recording paper can block light.

Four light receiving elements 20 in the optical sensor 20
The signal from b outputs a low (L) signal when the light from the light emitting element 20a is received, and a high (H) signal when the light from the light emitting element 20a is not received. An H or L output signal from the optical sensor 20 is input to the AND circuit 24, and its output is input to the microcomputer 22. Hereinafter, this is referred to as the input signal 1. Similarly, the four light receiving elements 21 in the optical sensor 21
The signal from b outputs L signal when light from the light emitting element 21a is received, and outputs H signal when light from the light emitting element 21a is not received. An H or L output signal from the optical sensor 21 is input to the AND circuit 25, and its output is input to the microcomputer 22. Hereinafter, this is referred to as the input signal 2.

The operation of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Since the thermal transfer printer of the present invention can detect not only the peeling of the sticker recording paper 10 but also whether or not the conveyed recording paper is shorter or longer than the specified length, it is also detected. explain. The peeling of the sticker recording paper 10 and the non-regulation are referred to as recording paper errors.

When the sticker recording paper 10 is not conveyed, both the light receiving elements 20b and 21b, and the light emitting elements 20a and 2b.
Since the light of 1a is received, L is output, and the AND circuit 2
Input signal 1 input to the microcomputer 22 via 4, 25
The input signal 2 is also L. The sticker recording paper 10 is conveyed from the left side in FIG. 2 by automatic separation paper feeding or manual paper feeding. Then, the light of the light emitting element 20a is emitted from the sticker recording paper 10.
Since it is cut off by, the signal of the light receiving element 20b changes from L to H. Since the four signals from the light emitting element 20a pass through the AND circuit 24, the input signal 1 to the microcomputer 22 is L until all four light receiving elements 20b become H. First, in step P1 of FIG. 4, it is detected whether or not the input signal 1 is H.

When the input signal 1 of the microcomputer 22 becomes H,
Moving to step P2, a drive pulse signal is output to the stepping motor driver 23 by the program of the microcomputer 22. As a result, the drive roller 3 starts rotating clockwise in FIG. Next, in step P3, it is detected for each drive pulse whether or not the input signal 1 is L. If it is L at step P3, it moves to step P4, and if it is H, it moves to step P5.

The sticker recording paper 10 is further conveyed, the leading edge of the sticker recording paper 10 is detected by the optical sensor 21, and the input signal 2 of the microcomputer 22 becomes H in step P5. If the input signal 1 in step 3 becomes L before the input signal 2 in step P5 becomes H, it is determined that a recording sheet shorter than a predetermined specified length has been fed, and an error message is displayed in step P4. And paper discharge processing. The error display is performed on the display unit 26 in FIG. In addition, as shown in FIG.
When the portion indicated by is peeled off, the output of one light receiving element 20b of the optical sensor 20 becomes L before the leading edge of the sticker recording paper 10 reaches the optical sensor 21, so the AND circuit 2
The input signal 1 which is the output of 4 also becomes L. Even in such a case, it can be detected in step 3. Also in this case, the error display and the paper discharge process are performed in step P4.

When the tip of the sticker recording paper 10 reaches the optical sensor 21 and the input signal 2 becomes H, the microcomputer 22 outputs a drive pulse signal to the stepping motor driver 23 in step P6. In step P7, the number of drive pulses is counted. Further, in step P8, it is determined whether the input signal 1 is L each time the drive pulse count is incremented by one. Step P11
At a predetermined count number N1 before the input signal 1 becomes L
If it reaches, it is determined that a recording paper longer than a predetermined specified length has been fed, and an error display and a paper discharge process are performed in step P12.

Then, when the rear end of the sticker recording paper 10 reaches the optical sensor 20 and the input signal 1 becomes L, step P9
Then, it is confirmed whether the number of pulses counted by this time is within a predetermined range N2 to N3. If it is between N2 and N3 within the predetermined range, it is determined that the recording paper has a regular length, and the printing process is continued in step P10. When the count number is between N1 and N2, it is determined that the recording paper is longer than a predetermined specified length, and an error display and a paper discharge process are performed in step P13. Similar processing is performed when the count number is N3 or less. It should be noted that the value of N1 is determined from the margin of the recording paper transport path length for the recording paper used for printing, and the values of N2 and N3 are determined in consideration of cutting error of the recording paper, meandering of the recording paper in the transport path, and the like. It

A sticker recording paper 10 as shown in FIG.
When the portion 10f is peeled off, the input signal 1 becomes L faster than the normal sticker recording paper 10, so the pulse count is less than N3 and the peeled sticker recording paper 10 It is possible to determine that there is. As described above, in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention,
It is possible to detect recording paper errors.

The recording paper conveyed (sticker recording paper 1
If it is detected that 0) has no error, the recording paper and the ink ribbon 11 are reversed from the conveying direction at the time of paper feeding as shown in FIG.
The thermal head 1 presses the platen roller 2 so that a desired image is printed on the recording paper by superimposing and transporting from the middle right side to the left side.

In this embodiment, the transmissive photosensors are used as the photosensors 20 and 21, but a reflective photosensor may be used. In this case, the backing paper 10c of the sticker recording paper 10 is made of a material having a reflectance different from that of the recording surface of the base paper 10a with respect to the wavelength of light emitted by the optical sensor. For example, in the case of irradiation light of a red LED, a black backing paper may be used for a white recording surface. Then, the output signal from the optical sensor may output H when the recording paper is present and L when there is no recording paper.

According to the configuration of this embodiment, only the sensors 20, 21 and AND circuits 24, 25 need be added to the conventional configuration, and the configuration can be achieved without increasing the input port of the microcomputer 22. There are few ups.

[0025]

As described in detail above, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is provided on the upstream side of the platen roller,
A first sensor for detecting the presence / absence of recording paper to be conveyed, a second sensor provided downstream of the platen roller for detecting the presence / absence of recording paper to be conveyed, and a drive pulse for conveying the recording paper. Error detecting means for detecting an error in the recording paper based on the output of the first and second sensors or the output of the first and second sensors and the output of the counting means. Since it is provided with and, it is possible to detect the peeling of the sticker recording paper or the conveyance of the recording paper of a non-regulated length. Therefore, it is possible to prevent problems that occur with it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a sticker recording paper used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 line thermal head 2 platen roller 3 drive roller 4 driven roller 5 stepping motor 10 sticker recording paper 10a base paper 10b adhesive layer 10c backing paper 11 ink ribbon 12 ink cassette 20, 21 optical sensor 20a, 21a light projecting element 20b, 21b Light receiving element 22 Microcomputer (counting means, error detecting means) 23 Stepping motor driver

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer printer that conveys an ink ribbon and a recording sheet in an overlapping manner between a line thermal head and a platen roller, and transfers a desired image onto the recording sheet, in the upstream side of the platen roller. A first sensor provided to detect the presence or absence of the conveyed recording paper; a second sensor provided downstream of the platen roller to detect the presence of the conveyed recording paper; and the recording paper Counting means for counting the drive pulse for transporting, and based on the outputs of the first and second sensors, or based on the outputs of the first and second sensors and the output of the counting means, A thermal transfer printer, comprising: an error detection unit that detects an error in the recording paper. 2. The recording paper comprises a base paper having an adhesive layer formed on the side opposite to the recording surface and a backing paper protecting the adhesive layer, and the backing paper is a transparent film or the base paper. Made of materials with different reflectance for the light wavelength of
2. The sticker recording paper in which the base paper and the adhesive layer are pre-cut into a plurality of sections, and the error detected by the error detecting means is partial peeling of the sticker recording paper. The thermal transfer printer described. 3. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 2, wherein the first and second sensors are provided in correspondence with the number of sections in the width direction of the sticker recording paper. 4. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the error detected by the error detecting means is that the length of the recording paper in the conveyance direction is not a specified length.