JPH09202027A - Ink ribbon discriminating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink ribbon discriminating device for efficiently discriminating various types of ink ribbon for a printer. SOLUTION: A reflective plate 5 is attached to one end of a core 4a of a monochrome ink ribbon. On a color ink ribbon, an ink ribbon discriminating device to be applied in a case that a discriminating mark 7 is attached on a ribbon face instead of the reflective plate 5 on the core 4a is formed. The device comprises an optical sensor 11 for detecting the presence of the reflective plate 5 in the core 4a, a ribbon sensor 14 for discriminating the discriminating mark 7, and a control section which generates information for indicating the monochrome ink ribbon when the optical sensor 11 detects the reflective plate 5 and generates information for indicating the color ink ribbon of a type corresponding to the discriminating mark 7 detected by the ribbon sensor 14 when the reflective plate 5 is not detected.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer type printer such as a line thermal printer, and more particularly to an ink ribbon identification device for automatically identifying the types of monochrome and color ink ribbons.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A line thermal printer is widely used as a transfer printer. The printing means in this type of printer uses a thermal head composed of a plurality of heating elements arranged side by side, each heating element is energized to generate heat and the ink applied to the ink ribbon is printed by the generated heat. It is performed by transferring it to a recording medium. Further, the ink ribbons provided for the line thermal printer are mixed with various kinds such as a monochrome ink ribbon, a three-color ink ribbon, and a four-color ink ribbon. Generally, if the type of ink ribbon is different, the content of control of the ink ribbon and the thermal head at the time of printing is also different. For this reason, it is important to automatically identify an ink ribbon in which a large number of types are mixed in order to simplify the operation or control of the line thermal printer.

Conventionally, as a technique for automatically identifying the type of an ink ribbon in a line thermal printer, for example, one described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-220384 is known. In short, this technique is to identify the type of the ink ribbon by detecting the state by changing the state of the end face of the core, such as adding an identification mark to the end face of the core of the ink ribbon. For example, when discriminating up to four types of ink ribbons, the logical level of the optical sensor depends on whether or not a reflector that can be detected by the optical sensor is attached to at least one end of both ends of the core. The identification mark is formed by changing the.

As another conventional ink ribbon identification means, an identification mark that can be detected by an optical sensor is attached to the ink ribbon surface, and the optical sensor detects the identification mark while the ink ribbon is being sent to detect the type of ink ribbon. It is known to identify. For example, in a color ink ribbon, a portion coated with several colors of ink and a transparent portion not coated with ink are alternately arranged, and an identification mark for identifying the type of the color ink ribbon is provided in this transparent portion. It is attached.

[0005]

When the states of different core end portions are detected in accordance with the types of the ink ribbons and the types are identified as in the technique described in the above publication, there are about four types of ink ribbons. However, it is not possible to cope with the recent diversification of ink ribbons. Also, if you want to identify the type by detecting the identification mark on the ink ribbon,
There is a problem in distinguishing a monochrome ink ribbon from a color ink ribbon, especially a color ink ribbon including a black coating portion. In other words, if there is a black coating part at the position of the optical sensor that detects the identification mark when the printer is turned on, the detection signal from the optical sensor at this point is that the ink ribbon attached to the printer is monochrome ink. Since it is the same regardless of whether it is a ribbon or a color ink ribbon, it is not possible to identify which is the ribbon. In order to discriminate between them, it is necessary to feed out an unused portion of the ink ribbon for a certain length and check whether or not the identification mark is detected. Then, the monochrome ink ribbon can be determined only when the identification mark is not detected. As described above, there is a problem that an unused portion of the ink ribbon sent out at the time of identification is wasted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon identification device capable of identifying more kinds of required ink ribbons than ever before. Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon identification device that can immediately identify a monochrome ink ribbon and a color ink ribbon and can eliminate waste of unused ink ribbons.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an improved ink ribbon identifying apparatus which can solve the above problems. The ink ribbon identification device of the present invention is a device for identifying the type of the printer ink ribbon wound around the side surface of the core, and when the ink ribbon is a monochrome ink ribbon, the monochrome ink ribbon is displayed at the end of the core. When the ink ribbon is a color ink ribbon, an identification mark is provided on the ink ribbon instead of the display, the first means for detecting the presence or absence of the monochrome ink ribbon display on the core, and the ink ribbon When the second means for identifying the above identification mark and the first means detect the display of the monochrome ink ribbon from the core, the information for indicating the monochrome ink ribbon is generated, and the display of the monochrome ink ribbon is not detected. When it is second
The third means for generating information indicating the color ink ribbon of the type corresponding to the identification mark detected by the above means.

Further, as a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the display of the monochrome ink ribbon is a reflection plate formed at one end of each end of the core, and the first means is a light emitting device facing each other at the reflection plate forming portion. An optical sensor including an element and a light receiving element is included.

Further, the identification mark is a combination of a plurality of light shields formed on the transparent portions between the color inks on the ink ribbon, and the second means is a combination pattern of the light shields formed on the transparent portions. It includes an optical sensor that outputs a different signal depending on the situation. The ink ribbon identification device thus configured detects the presence or absence of the reflection plate at the end of the core by the first means to determine whether the ink ribbon is a monochrome ink ribbon or a color ink ribbon, and If it is determined to be an ink ribbon, the identification mark on the color ink ribbon is detected by the second means to identify the type of the color ink ribbon.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a main part of an ink ribbon identification device according to an embodiment of the present invention installed in a line thermal printer, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view thereof.

This ink ribbon identification device is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, one color ink ribbon (for example, four color ink ribbon) 3 is wound around the core 4a of the ink ribbon on the feeding side and the core 4b on the winding side. An optical sensor 11 for detecting the presence / absence of a reflector is attached to one end of the core 4a on the sending side. A portion of the color ink ribbon 3 between the feeding-side core 4a and the winding-side core 4b which is not coated with ink is, for example, a combination of a cue mark 6 and a plurality of light-shielding bodies made of one light-shielding body. The identification mark 7 is attached. Reference numeral 14 denotes a ribbon sensor that detects the presence or absence of the cue mark 6 and the combination pattern of the identification marks 7, and four optical sensors 12 and A arranged so as to cross the ink ribbon 3 in a row.
8, B9, C10, and a reflector 13 facing the optical sensor C10 and the like as shown in FIG. 1B.
The number of the optical sensors 12, A8, B9, C10 is determined according to the maximum number (2 to the third power in the illustrated example) of the number of combination patterns of the light shields. The outputs of the optical sensor 11 and the ribbon sensor 14 are guided to a control unit (not shown).

The control unit is a processor that operates according to a program that defines a procedure to be described later, for example, and based on the outputs of the optical sensor 11 and the ribbon sensor 14, information indicating the monochrome ink ribbon or a specific color. The information for indicating the ink ribbon is generated. Although not shown, a motor drive unit for rotating the cores 4a, 4b is provided on the feed side and the winding side of the cores 4a, 4b.

2 to 4 are external views of various ink ribbons. FIG. 2 shows a monochrome ink ribbon 1, and a reflection plate 5 detected by an optical sensor 11 is attached to one end of a core 4a on the feeding side thereof. FIG. 3 shows a three-color ink ribbon 2 and FIG. 4 shows a four-color ink ribbon 3. In these color ink ribbons 2 and 3, the reflection plate 5 is not attached to the end of the core 4a on the feeding side. The ink ribbon of the three-color ink ribbon 2 is
A basic arrangement of three colors consisting of C (cyan), M (magenta), and Y (yellow) is repeatedly applied. In the ink ribbon of the four-color ink ribbon 3, B (black) and C (cyan) , M (magenta) and Y (yellow) are repeatedly applied. A cue mark 6 is attached to the leading portion of the transparent portion between the respective coated portions, and an identification mark 7 for identifying the color ink ribbon is provided on the transparent portion between the respective basic arrays. It is attached.

FIG. 5 shows the optical sensors 11, 12, A8 and B.
9 shows a schematic configuration of C10 and its peripheral circuits. First, the basic operation of the optical sensor will be described. Referring to FIG. 5, the light emitted from the photo diode D1 which is a light emitting element is reflected by the reflection plate 13 and the photo transistor Tr which is a light receiving element.
Reach 1 As a result, the phototransistor Tr1 is turned on, and the output of the photosensor becomes low level (logic "0"). Here, the resistor R1 is for controlling the current of the light emitting diode D1, and the resistor R2 is a pull-up resistor. The output of the photosensor becomes high level (logic "1") when the space between the photosensor and the reflector is blocked by a monochrome ink ribbon or an identification mark, or when there is no reflector.

The ribbon sensor 14 includes a plurality of the above-mentioned optical sensors, four in this embodiment (12, A8, B9, C1).
0), and it becomes possible to identify the type of ink ribbon by the combination of the output signals. Table 1
It shows an example of correspondence between various color ink ribbons and a combination pattern of output signals from the ribbon sensor 14.

[0016]

[Table 1]

Next, the processing procedure of the control unit provided in the ink ribbon identification apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

When the power source of the line thermal printer is turned on, the control section is put into operation. The control unit first analyzes the output signal from the optical sensor 11 to detect the ink ribbon core 4
The presence or absence of the reflector 5 at the end of a is detected. Reflector 5
If is attached, the output of the optical sensor 11 is logical "0".
Therefore, it can be seen that the monochrome ink ribbon is set. On the other hand, if the reflection plate 5 is not attached, the output of the optical sensor 11 becomes a logic "1", so it can be seen that the color ink ribbon is set. In the latter case, the ribbon motor is controlled so that the ribbon sensor 14 can detect the identification mark 7. Specifically, the ink ribbon is sent out until the ribbon sensor 14 can detect the identification mark 7.

When the ribbon sensor 14 detects the identification mark 7, the controller determines the type of ink ribbon based on the output signal of the ribbon sensor 14 (detection signal of the identification mark 7) and the data in Table 1 above. To do. If the ribbon sensor 14 cannot detect the identification mark 7, it is determined that the ink ribbon does not exist. The control unit performs required control according to the determination result.

As described above, since the identification of the ink ribbon by the optical sensor 11 and the identification of the ink ribbon by the ribbon sensor 14 are used together, a larger number of ink ribbons are used than when either one of the identification means is used. Can be identified, and the probability of misidentification can be reduced. As a result, the reliability of control contents can be improved.

Although the above description is of a preferred mode of the present embodiment, the present invention does not necessarily have to detect the presence or absence of the display of the monochrome ink ribbon 1 as the first means. It is not limited to the combination of the sensors 11. The identification mark 7 is not limited to the combination of the light shields as long as it can identify the corresponding color ink ribbon.

[0022]

As is clear from the above description, according to the ink ribbon identifying apparatus of the present invention, the presence or absence of the identification mark existing in the color ink ribbon but not existing in the monochrome ink ribbon as in the prior art is detected. Therefore, the unused portion of the ink ribbon is not fed out, and there is a unique effect that waste of printing is eliminated.

Further, since there are two types of ink ribbon identifying means, there is an effect that the probability of misidentification is reduced as compared with the case of only one type.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a main part of an ink ribbon identification device of the present embodiment, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view thereof.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the monochrome ink ribbon of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a three-color ink ribbon of this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the four-color ink ribbon of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an optical sensor and peripheral circuits according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the ink ribbon identification device of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Monochrome Ink Ribbon 2 3 Color Ink Ribbon 3 4 Color Ink Ribbon 4a, 4b Core 5 Reflector 6 Cue Mark 7 Identification Mark 11, 12, A8, B9, C10 Optical Sensor 13 Reflector 14 Ribbon Sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A device for identifying the type of a printer ink ribbon wound around a side surface of a core, wherein when the ink ribbon is a monochrome ink ribbon, a monochrome ink ribbon is displayed at an end of the core, When the ink ribbon is a color ink ribbon, an identification mark is provided on the ink ribbon instead of the display, first means for detecting the presence or absence of the display of the monochrome ink ribbon on the core, and the ink Second means for identifying the identification mark on the ribbon, and when the first means detects the display of the monochrome ink ribbon from the core, information for indicating the monochrome ink ribbon is generated to display the monochrome ink ribbon. When not detected, information for indicating the color ink ribbon of the type corresponding to the identification mark detected by the second means is generated. An ink ribbon identification device, comprising: 2. The display of the monochrome ink ribbon is a reflection plate formed at one end of each end of the core,
2. The ink ribbon identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means includes an optical sensor composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element facing each other at the portion where the reflector is formed. 3. The identification mark is a combination of a plurality of light shields formed on a transparent portion between color inks on an ink ribbon, and the second means is a combination of light shields formed on the transparent portion. 3. An optical sensor, which outputs different signals depending on the combination pattern, is included.
Ink ribbon identification device described.