JPH09240096A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal transfer printer which makes it possible to discriminate the type of n ink ribbon cassette and the presence or absence of a recording sheet and the cassette with little number of sensors. SOLUTION: An identification mark 6 for expressing the type of a cassette 1 is attached to the rear surface of the supply roll container 2 of an ink ribbon cassette 1 in combination of a light reflecting material and a light absorbing material. A reflecting type photosensor 21 for detecting the mark 6 is disposed at the position opposed to the mark via the conveying route of a recording sheet 16. The type of the cassette 1 is discriminated based on the output of the photosensor 21 except the case that all the outputs of the photosensor 21 are optically reflected or absorbed. If all the outputs of the photosensor 21 are optically reflected, the presence of the sheet 16 on the route is judged, while all the outputs are absorbed, no presence of the cassette 1 is judged.

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, it is possible to reduce the number of sensors by improving an ink ribbon cassette type discrimination and recording paper or cassette presence / absence discrimination means. Thermal transfer printer.

[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 this type of printer, a sublimation transfer ink or a melt transfer ink in a ribbon shape is heated by a line thermal head to transfer the ink to a recording paper,
Get the desired image. Convert this ink ribbon into a cassette,
By making it detachable from the printer, various types of ink can be used properly. In this case, the ink ribbon cassette is provided with identification marks, projections, holes, etc. according to the type, the printer side detects this, and the identification means such as a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as "microcomputer") identifies it. Control is performed according to each ink type.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-39270 proposes a thermal transfer printer in which a concave portion or a convex portion provided on an ink ribbon cassette is detected by a micro switch, an optical sensor or the like on the printer side. This thermal transfer printer has an advantage that the type of the ink ribbon cassette can be immediately identified when the ink ribbon cassette is mounted.

[0004]

By the way, in the thermal transfer printer, the type of the ink ribbon cassette is discriminated as described above, and although not described here, it is discriminated whether the recording paper or the ink ribbon cassette is present. , Requires a lot of sensors. The cost increases as the number of sensors increases, and the cost increases as the input ports of the microcomputer increase.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of determining the type of ink ribbon cassette and the presence or absence of recording paper or ink ribbon cassette with a small number of sensors. And

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention comprises an ink ribbon cassette and a line thermal head for thermally transferring the ink of the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon cassette onto a recording paper. In the thermal transfer printer, a plurality of bits representing a type of the ink ribbon cassette formed of a combination of a light reflecting material and a light absorbing material on the ink ribbon cassette except a combination of all light reflecting materials or all light absorbing materials. Is provided at a position facing the identification mark across the conveyance path of the recording paper, and a reflection type optical sensor for detecting the identification mark, and all outputs of the reflection type optical sensor. Except for the case where is the light reflection or the whole is the light absorption. In addition to discriminating the type of cassette, if all of the outputs of the reflection type optical sensor represent light reflection, it is determined that the recording sheet is present in the transport path, and all of the outputs of the reflection type optical sensor are The present invention provides a thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is provided with means for judging that the ink ribbon cassette is absent in the case of expressing light absorption.

[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 sectional view showing an embodiment of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows an example of an ink ribbon cassette used in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are flowcharts for explaining the operation of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention.

First, an example of an ink ribbon cassette used in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 3, the ink ribbon cassette 1 has a supply roll 2 inside.
supply roll storing section 2 storing a and winding roll 3a
And a stay 4 that connects the supply roll storage unit 2 and the winding roll storage unit 3 with each other. The ink ribbon 30 is supplied from the supply roll 2a and wound around the winding roll 3a. The stay 4 is provided with a handle 5 for attaching and detaching the ink ribbon cassette 1 at a predetermined position of the thermal transfer printer, and holding the handle 5 in a direction parallel to the supply roll storage unit 2 and the winding roll storage unit 3. The ink ribbon cassette 1 can be attached and detached via an insertion port (not shown) of the printer.

In FIG. 3, for convenience of description, the ink ribbon cassette 1 is shown upside down. That is, the upper surface in the drawing is the back surface of the ink ribbon cassette 1, and the lower surface in the drawing is the front surface of the ink ribbon cassette 1. An identification mark 6 representing the type of the ink ribbon cassette 1 is fixed to the outer peripheral back surface of the supply roll storage unit 2. In this embodiment,
The identification mark 6 has a 4-bit structure of 6a to 6d, and the identification mark 6 is made of a combination of a light reflecting material and a light absorbing material. In this example, the bits 6a and 6c are light absorbing materials,
Bits 6b and 6d are light reflecting materials. There are 16 types of ink ribbon cassettes 1 that can be identified by the 4-bit identification mark 6, but as will be described later, all the bits 6a to 6d are light reflecting materials and all the bits 6a to 6 are.
The combination of d being a light absorbing material is the ink ribbon cassette 1
There are 14 types of ink ribbon cassette 1 that can be actually identified by the identification mark 6. The identification mark 6 may be 2 bits or more depending on the type of the ink ribbon cassette 1.

The structure of a thermal transfer printer equipped with such an ink ribbon cassette 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1, the line thermal head 7 can be pressed against and separated from the platen roller 8 by means not shown, and is in a separated state in FIG. The platen roller 8 is rotatably supported by a frame of a printer (not shown). The ink ribbon 30 in the ink ribbon cassette 1 is stretched between the line thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8, and the line thermal head 7 is pressed against the platen roller 8 via the ink ribbon 30 and the recording paper 16 to heat it. As a result, the ink of the ink ribbon 30 is thermally transferred to the recording paper 16.

A pair of rollers including a driving roller 9 and a driven roller 10 are rotatably supported by the frame of the printer on the upstream side of the platen roller 8 at the time of feeding. The drive roller 9 is, as shown in FIG.
Is driven by the rotational force obtained by decelerating the rotation of the pulleys 12 and 13 and the timing belt 14. Driven roller 10
Is urged toward the drive roller 9 by the pressing means 15, so that the recording paper 16 sandwiched between the drive roller 9 and the driven roller 10 can be conveyed. The rotation angle of the stepping motor 11 is determined by the number of pulses sent from the microcomputer (hereinafter, microcomputer) 22 to the stepping motor driver 23. Further, the transport amount of the recording paper 16 is determined by the reduction ratio of the pulleys 12 and 13 and the diameter of the platen roller 8. Display unit 2 on the microcomputer 22
4 are connected and various displays are displayed on the display unit 24.

In this embodiment, the recording paper 16 is fed from the left side to the right side in FIG. After the recording paper 16 is conveyed to a predetermined position, the recording paper 16 is conveyed from the right side to the left side in FIG. 1 to perform printing. The conveyance path of the recording paper 16 is formed by the guide plates 17 to 19, the line thermal head 7, the platen roller 8, and the ink ribbon cassette 1. That is, the recording paper 16 is conveyed between the guide plates 17 and 18, between the line thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8, and between the supply roll housing 2 of the ink ribbon cassette 1 and the guide plate 19.

On the upstream side of the drive roller 9 when the paper is fed, the light projecting element 2 is sandwiched between the light projecting element 20a and the conveying path of the recording paper 16.
There is provided a pair of optical sensors 20 each including a light receiving element 20b provided so as to face 0a, and the presence or absence of the recording paper 16 is detected by the optical sensors 20. Further, four pairs (21 a to 21 d) of reflection type optical sensors 21 in which a light projecting element and a light receiving element are integrated are provided in parallel with the platen roller 8 on the downstream side of the platen roller 8 during sheet feeding. This reflective optical sensor 2
1 detects the presence or absence of the recording paper 16 and also detects the identification mark 6 provided on the ink ribbon cassette 1 mounted in the printer. Further, as will be described later, the presence / absence of the ink ribbon cassette 1 is also detected.

That is, when the ink ribbon cassette 1 is mounted at a predetermined position of the printer, the identification mark 6 has 4 bits 6a.
6d are set so as to be opposed to the reflection type optical sensor 21 (21a to 21d) with the conveyance path of the recording paper 16 interposed therebetween. The transport path length between these optical sensors 20 and 21 is set shorter than the length of the recording paper 16. Therefore, when the recording paper 16 is between the driving roller 9 and the driven roller 10 in FIG. 1, either the optical sensor 20 and the reflective optical sensor 21 or the optical sensor 20 and the reflective optical sensor 21 is used. The presence or absence of the recording paper 16 is detected by both of the above.

The signal from the light receiving element 20b in the optical sensor 20 is low (L) when the light from the light emitting element 20a is received, and high (H) when the light from the light emitting element 20a is not received. This output signal is input to the microcomputer 22 as the input signal 1. Similarly, the output signal from the light receiving element in the reflective optical sensor 21 is L when the reflected light from the light emitting element is received, and H when it is not received. These output signals are input to the microcomputer 22 as input signals 2-5.

The microcomputer 22 is provided with a table for discriminating the kind of the ink ribbon cassette 1 in accordance with the combination of the states of the input signals 2 to 5 from the reflection type optical sensor 21. All of the input signals 2 to 5 in which the combinations of the identification marks 6 are all light reflection are L, and all of the input signals 2 to 5 are all light absorption are H.
Is not set in the table. Microcomputer 22
When the input signals 2 to 5 are all L, it is determined that the recording paper 16 is on the transport path on the reflection type optical sensor 21, and when all the input signals 2 to 5 are H. It is determined that there is no ink ribbon cassette 1.

Next, the type discrimination of the ink ribbon cassette 1 and the length detection of the recording paper 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG. 4, after the power is turned on or the microcomputer 22 is reset, the optical sensor 20 and the reflection type optical sensor 2
In step 1, the presence or absence of the recording paper 16 is detected (steps P1, P
2). That is, it is determined that the recording paper 16 is present between the driving roller 9 and the driven roller 10. When the input signal 1 is H or all the input signals 2 to 5 are L, an error is displayed on the display unit 24. Along with the display, the paper discharge process is performed (step P
3). Then, the operation is stopped.

The paper discharge process in step P3 is executed by the program of the microcomputer 22 by the stepping motor driver 2
3, a driving pulse signal is output, the driving roller 9 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1, and the recording paper 16 is conveyed leftward. When the recording paper 16 is separated from the drive roller 9 and is ejected to the outside of the printer by a means (not shown), the output signal (input signal 1) of the optical sensor 20 is changed from H to L, and the paper is ejected. The processing operation ends.

When the input signals 2 to 5 are all H while the recording paper 16 is not in the printer, the ink ribbon cassette 1
Since it is not in the combination of the identification marks 6 of
The microcomputer 22 determines that the ink ribbon cassette 1 is not installed (step P4), and displays the fact on the display unit 24 (step P5). When the ink ribbon cassette 1 is mounted at a predetermined position, the type of the ink ribbon cassette 1 is determined based on the combination of the input signals 2 to 5 (step P6), and the print setting according to the type is performed (step P7).

Further, when the recording paper 16 is conveyed from the left side in FIG. 1 by means not shown, the light of the light emitting element 20a in the optical sensor 20 is blocked by the recording paper 16 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the output signal (input signal 1) of the light receiving element 20b changes from L to H (step P
8). When the input signal 1 to the microcomputer 22 becomes H, a program of the microcomputer 22 outputs a drive pulse signal to the stepping motor driver 23, and the drive roller 9 is driven by the drive roller 9 shown in FIG.
Rotation starts in the clockwise direction (step P9). And
It waits for the input signal 1 to change from H to L for each drive pulse and for all of the input signals 2 to 5 to change to L. Input signal 2
If the input signal 1 becomes L before all 5 become L (step P10), it is determined that the recording paper 16 shorter than the predetermined length has been fed, and the display unit 24 displays an error. At the same time, the paper discharge process is performed (step P11). afterwards,
Stop the operation.

When the leading edge of the recording paper 16 reaches the reflection type optical sensor 21 and all the input signals 2 to 5 become L (step P1).
2) The microcomputer 22 outputs one drive pulse (step P13) and starts counting the number of drive pulses (step P14). Then, it waits for the input signal 1 to change from H to L each time the drive pulse count is incremented by 1 (step P15). However, the input signal 1 is L
If the predetermined count number N1 is reached before (step P18), it is determined that the recording paper 16 longer than the predetermined length is fed, an error is displayed on the display unit 24, and the paper discharge process is performed. Perform (step 19). Then, the operation is stopped.

The rear end of the recording paper 16 reaches the optical sensor 20,
When the input signal 1 becomes L, it is confirmed whether the number of pulses counted by this time is within a predetermined range N2 to N3 (step P16). If it is within N2 to N3 within the predetermined range, it is determined that the recording paper 16 has a regular length, and thereafter,
The printing process is continued (step P20). When the number of counts is N1 to N2, it is determined that it is longer than the predetermined recording paper 16, and an error is displayed on the display unit 24 and the paper discharge process is performed (step P17). Then, the operation is stopped. 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 conveyance path length for the recording paper 16, and the values of N2 and N3 are determined in consideration of the cutting error of the recording paper 16, the meandering of the recording paper 16 in the conveyance path, and the like. It

In the embodiment described above, the optical sensor 20
Although a transmissive optical sensor is used as the above, a reflective optical sensor may be used. In this case, since the output signal from the optical sensor is L when there is a recording sheet and H when there is no recording sheet, the processing for the input signal 1 of the microcomputer 22 may be changed accordingly.

[0024]

As described in detail above, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is a thermal transfer printer having an ink ribbon cassette and a line thermal head for thermally transferring the ink of the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon cassette to a recording paper, On the ink ribbon cassette, a multi-bit identification mark indicating the type of the ink ribbon cassette made of a combination of a light reflecting material and a light absorbing material is provided except for a combination of all light reflecting materials or all light absorbing materials. In the case where a reflection type optical sensor for detecting the identification mark is provided at a position facing the identification mark across the recording paper conveyance path and all outputs of the reflection type optical sensor indicate light reflection or light absorption. Except that the type of ink ribbon cassette is determined based on the output of the reflective optical sensor, When all the outputs of the sensor indicate light reflection, it is determined that there is a recording sheet in the transport path, and when all of the outputs of the reflection type optical sensor indicate light absorption, a means for determining that there is no ink ribbon cassette Since the above-mentioned configuration is provided, it is possible to determine the type of the ink ribbon cassette and the presence or absence of the recording paper or the ink ribbon cassette with a small number of sensors. Therefore, when the microcomputer is used as a means for determining the type of the ink ribbon cassette and determining the presence or absence of the recording paper or the ink ribbon cassette, the number of input ports can be reduced and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of an ink ribbon cassette used in the present invention.

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

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ink Ribbon Cassette 2 Supply Roll Storage Section 3 Winding Roll Storage Section 4 Stay 5 Handle 6 Identification Mark 7 Line Thermal Head 8 Platen Roller 9 Drive Roller 10 Driven Roller 11 Stepping Motor 12, 13 Pulley 14 Timing Belt 15 Pressing Device 16 Recording Paper 17-19 Guide Plate 20 Optical Sensor 21 Reflective Optical Sensor 22 Microcomputer 23 Stepping Motor Driver 24 Display Section 30 Ink Ribbon

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer printer comprising an ink ribbon cassette and a line thermal head for thermally transferring the ink of the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon cassette to a recording paper, wherein all of the light reflecting material or all of the ink ribbon cassette is provided. A multi-bit identification mark representing the type of the ink ribbon cassette, which is made up of a combination of a light reflecting material and a light absorbing material except for a combination which is a light absorbing material, is provided, and the identification is performed with the conveyance path of the recording paper sandwiched. A reflective optical sensor that is provided at a position facing the mark and that detects the identification mark, and unless all of the outputs of the reflective optical sensor represent optical reflection or optical absorption, of the reflective optical sensor The type of the ink ribbon cassette is determined based on the output, and the total output of the reflective optical sensor is determined. Means that there is the recording paper in the transport path, and when all of the outputs of the reflection type optical sensor represent light absorption, means for judging that there is no ink ribbon cassette. A thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is provided with.