JPH09248954A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent very short slips from developing and collecting within a device by a method wherein a printing process is inevitably executed by the predetermined several number of dot lines even when a printing halt switch is depressed during the printing process and then the printing is stopped so as to cut off printed portion. SOLUTION: Even when a printing halt switch is depressed during a printing process, during the conveying of a machine glazed paper to a printing position after the receipt of a printing starting command, during the printout from a line head 10 by the predetermined dot lines or during the feeding of the machine glazed paper, the printing process does not be stopped until the predetermined length is attained. After the depression, printing is performed by every one dot line. At every one dot line printing, a CPU 21 judges whether a printing halt flag is set or not. When the switch 11 is depressed during the setting of the printing halt flag, the printing is stopped, the printed portion is cut off the machine glazed paper and discharged outside. Accordingly, no very short slip develops even when the switch 11 is depressed just after the start of printing.

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 one line or a plurality of lines on roll paper and separating the printed portion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of printer, there is a line printer applied to a ticket issuing device as shown in FIGS. In this ticket issuing device, a printing unit 2 is provided in the housing 1 so as to be drawn out from the front. Specifically, two guide rails 3 are provided in the bottom of the housing in the front and rear direction, and the printing unit 2 is slidably mounted on these guide rails 3.

A roll paper 4a for outputting receipt data of a post office, for example, is provided behind the printing unit 2.
A paper storage unit 41 for storing the paper and a paper storage unit 42 for storing the roll paper 4b for outputting the certificate data of the post office are arranged in parallel.

Further, the printing unit 2 conveys the paper drawn out from the paper storage units 41 and 42 and cuts the paper printed by the printing unit 5 for printing on these roll papers. Cutting part 6 equipped with a cutter, this cutting part 6
Roll papers 4a, 4 which are cut apart from the front of the roll paper 4a, 4
A ticket issuing unit 7 is provided for inserting the paper piece b from a hole (not shown) on the back surface and issuing it as a ticket to an opening provided on the front side of the apparatus.

In the printing section 5, a lid 8 is pivotally supported at one side edge of the lid 8 so as to be openable in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Inside the lid body 8, one line head 10 having print elements arranged in a line is attached. As shown in FIG. 5, the roll papers 4a, 4b
Are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the line head 10.

A protruding portion 8a protruding laterally is provided at the open end of the lid body 8, and the protruding portion 8a is hooked on a hook portion 9 attached to a side surface of the printing portion main body. . The hook 9 is formed with a lever 9a for releasing the hooked state of the protrusion 8a of the lid 8.

Further, the print unit 2 is provided with a print stop switch 11 as shown in FIG. The print stop switch 11 may be pressed to stop printing in the middle, for example, after printing on roll paper starts, it may be possible to notice an error in the number of issued sheets or the amount of money input as print information. Is. In other words, certificate stamps are the same as money and must not be issued by mistake.
If you notice an error in the amount of money, etc., the print cancel switch 1
It is necessary to press 1 immediately to stop printing and prevent the generation of such a stamp. The print stop switch 11
May be provided in the housing 1 shown in FIG. With this configuration, the print cancel switch 11 can be easily operated.

In such a device, when a ticket is issued, a CPU (central processing unit) (not shown) constituting the main body of the control unit in the device performs ticket issuing control as shown in FIG. Has become. Of the flow chart shown in FIG. 6,
What is shown in (a) is a main routine, and what is shown in (b) is an interrupt routine that is processed as an interrupt during processing of the CPU.

The interrupt routine shown in FIG. 6 (b) sets a print stop flag for determining whether or not to stop the print process when the print stop switch 11 is pressed. Even while the print process shown in FIG. 9A is being executed, the process is preferentially performed.

The main routine shown in FIG. 6 (a) is executed when the ticket issuing is started by inputting the information necessary for issuing the ticket from the host computer connected to this apparatus. That is, first, based on the data received from the host computer, one line for one line along the line head 10
Print dot lines one by one. Specifically, the paper storage unit 4
The end portions of the roll papers set at 1 and 42 are conveyed to the opposite portion of the line head 10 for printing. Then, during the printing process, as shown in FIG. 5, the roll paper has its end portion extending from the cutting portion 6 and is conveyed by a predetermined length, and a hole portion (not shown) on the back surface of the ticket issuing portion 7 is conveyed. Will be inserted into.

Then, every time such one line of printing is finished, it is judged whether or not the print end and print stop flags are set. Then, when printing is completed, the printed portion is separated. As a result, the separated portion is issued as a ticket from the opening of the ticket issuing unit 7.

On the other hand, if the print stop flag is set before printing is finished, the print process is stopped immediately, the print stop flag is unset, and the roll paper is cut off. As a result, the end of the half-printed roll paper is separated from the roll paper, and a ticket piece having a length less than one sheet is generated. This is to issue the ticket correctly next time. In other words, if this half-wave portion is not cut off, that portion will be issued while being connected to the next ticket, so this is prevented.

[0013]

However, in such an apparatus, it is necessary to immediately stop printing when an error in money is noticed. Therefore, the printing stop flag is set every time printing of one line is completed. Therefore, if the print stop switch 11 is pressed immediately after the start of printing, the roll paper is cut off even though only a few lines have been printed. , Very short bills may be generated.

In this way, when the print stop switch 11 is pressed immediately after the start of printing, the end of the roll paper extending from the cutting section 6 of the printing unit 2 reaches the hole on the back surface of the ticket issuing section 7. It may be cut off without reaching it, and the short ticket piece thus created sneaks into the narrow gap between the cutting section 6 and the ticket issuing section 7. Therefore, since such short ticket pieces are accumulated in the gap between the cutting section 6 and the ticket issuing section 7, there is a problem in that the short ticket pieces must be removed periodically, which is troublesome.

Further, if the above-mentioned short bill piece is caught on the cutting portion 6, when the end portion of the roll paper is inserted at the time of issuance of the next bill, it is likely to be overlapped and cut or jammed. There is also a problem in that it will affect the issuing process of the next ticket.

Further, the cutting section 6 may be provided with an optical sensor for detecting the presence or absence of roll paper, and when the above-mentioned short ticket is caught on the optical sensor, the optical sensor is provided. There is also a problem in that the paper is blocked, and there is no roll paper, but there is a malfunction that there is roll paper.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the generation of bills having an extremely short length, eliminating the need to remove or clean the bills accumulated in the apparatus, and to affect the processing after the printing is stopped. The present invention aims to provide a printer that can prevent this.

[0018]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer in which a print head prints on a roll paper line by line or a plurality of lines, and when printing is completed, the printed portion is separated and discharged to the outside. A print stop switch for interrupting printing is provided, and even if this print stop switch is pressed during the printing process, printing is always performed for the specified number of dot lines, then printing is stopped and the portion printed from the roll paper is cut off. To release.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a printer that prints on a roll paper by one line or a plurality of lines by a print head, and when the printing is completed, the printed portion is cut off and discharged to the outside. A print stop switch and a state storage means for storing the state when the print stop switch is pressed during the printing process are provided, and one dot line or a plurality of dots after a predetermined number of dot lines are continuously printed after the start of print output. The state storage means is monitored every time a line is printed, and if it is determined that the state storage means does not store the state where the print stop switch is pressed, printing is continued, and the state storage means presses the print stop switch. When it is determined that the state is stored, the printing is stopped and the printed portion is separated from the roll paper.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in a printer for printing one line or a plurality of lines on a roll paper by a print head, separating the printed portion and discharging the printed paper to the outside from the outside during the printing process. Even when the print stop command is received, the print processing is always performed for the predetermined number of dot lines, and then the print is stopped and the printed portion is separated from the roll paper.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in a printer that prints on a roll paper line by line or a plurality of lines by a print head, and when printing is completed, the printed portion is separated and discharged to the outside. When a print stop command is received from the printer, a state storage unit for storing the state is provided, and after the start of print output, a predetermined number of dot lines are continuously printed and then the state storage unit is monitored every time one dot line or a plurality of dot lines are printed. Then, if it is determined that the state storage unit does not store the state of receiving the print stop command, printing is continued, and if it is determined that the state storage unit stores the state of receiving the print stop command, print. Then, the printed portion is cut off from the roll paper.

In the present invention as described above, when printing is started, a predetermined number of dot lines are printed regardless of whether the print cancel switch is pressed or whether the print cancel command is received. If the print cancel switch is pressed or a print cancel command is received after that, printing is stopped in units of one dot line or plural dot lines, and the printed portion is cut off from the roll paper. As a result, even if printing is stopped midway, the portion cut off from the roll paper will always have a length equal to or greater than the predetermined length, so that the generation of an extremely short cut-off portion is prevented.

[0023]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments in which the present invention is applied to a ticket issuing apparatus will be described below with reference to the drawings. The external configuration of the device according to the present embodiment is similar to that shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, and the same parts as those shown in these drawings are designated by the same reference numerals and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing the configuration of the ticket issuing device according to the present embodiment. Reference numeral 21 is a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes the main body of the control unit, and 22 is the CPU 21 for controlling each unit. RO storing program data
M (read only memory), 23 is a RAM (random access memory) provided with an image buffer used by the CPU 21 for data processing, 24 is an I / O port, and 25 is a communication line. An interface (I / I that receives data from the host computer 26
F). CPU21, ROM22, RAM2
3, the I / O port 24, and the interface 25 are electrically connected by a bus line 27.

A head driver 31 for driving the line head 10 as a print head and a cutter motor 32 for driving the cutter of the cutting section 6 are driven to the I / O port 24 based on the image data from the image buffer of the RAM 23. Motor driver 33 to control, each roller paper 4
A motor driver 35 for driving a paper feed motor 34 for transporting a and 4b from the facing position of the line head 10 to the downstream side at a predetermined timing and the print stop switch 11 are connected.

When issuing a ticket, the CPU 21 performs ticket issuing control as shown in FIG. In the flow chart shown in FIG. 2, (a) shows a main routine, and (b) shows an interrupt routine which is processed as an interrupt during the processing of the CPU 21.

The interrupt routine shown in FIG. 2 (b) sets a print stop flag for determining whether or not to stop the print process when the print stop switch 11 is pressed. Even during the execution of the printing process after ST3 shown in FIG. 9A, the printing process is preferentially performed.

The main routine shown in FIG. 2A is executed when the ticket issuing is started by inputting the information necessary for issuing the ticket from the host computer 26, for example. That is, the CPU 21 first prints one dot line along the line head 10 based on the data received from the host computer 26 in ST (step) 1.

Subsequently, in ST2, it is determined whether or not printing for a predetermined number of dot lines has been completed. This predetermined number of dot lines is such that even if less than one ticket piece is generated due to printing cancellation, the ticket piece does not go into the narrow gap between the cutting section 6 and the ticket issuing section 7. Set the print amount.

Specifically, depending on the apparatus to which the present invention is applied, an experiment in which short ticket pieces do not accumulate in the gap between the cutting section 6 and the ticket issuing section 7 if the length is at least 1 inch or more. Results have been obtained. That is, if the distance between the line head 10 and the cutting portion 6 is 0.6 inch, the printing amount corresponding to the length of about 1 inch is an amount obtained by subtracting this from 1 inch, that is, 300 dp.
For a device having a print density of i, about 120 dot lines is sufficient. However, the number is not limited to this, and may be more, for example, about 300 dot lines.

Here, one dot line means one dot line in the line direction in which the print elements of the line head 10 are lined up. For example, one line of a character string at a printing density of 300 dpi varies depending on the size of the character and the line spacing. A minute is composed of about 40 dot lines.

In ST2, a predetermined number of dot lines, for example, 120 dot lines or 300 in the above example.
If it is determined that printing for dot lines has finished,
In ST3, the next 1-dot line is printed. continue,
In ST4, it is determined whether printing is completed.

At this time, if it is determined that the printing is completed, the roll paper is fed to the line head 10 and the cutting unit 6 in ST7.
After carrying by a predetermined carrying amount corresponding to the interval between, for example, 0.6 inch, the cutter motor 32 is driven to separate the roll paper, and this main routine is ended. This gives 1
A number of tickets (e.g., a certificate or a receipt if the ticket issuing device according to the present invention is used as a business processing device of a post office) is issued.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the printing is not completed, it is determined in ST5 whether the print stop flag is set. When it is determined that the print cancel flag is not set, the process returns to ST3.

If it is determined that the print stop flag is set, the print process is stopped and the print stop flag is unset in ST6. As a result, printing of one ticket has not been completed.
Since the print stop flag is not checked in the loop of T1 and ST2, the print amount is always larger than the predetermined dot line.

In this state, in ST7, the cutter motor 32 is driven to carry the predetermined amount, and the roll paper is cut off to end this main routine. Then, a ticket longer than at least 1 inch is generated and discharged from the ticket issuing unit 7 to the outside.

In the embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, when the information necessary for issuing the ticket is input from the host computer 26 and the ticket issuing is started, for example, 120 dots are generated based on the data received from the host computer 26. Printing of lines is performed. During this printing process, that is, while receiving the print start command and transporting the roll paper to the print position, while printing output for a predetermined dot line from the print head, and while feeding the roll paper. Even if the print stop switch 11 is pressed, the print processing is not stopped until the predetermined length is reached.

After that, printing is performed for each dot line, and each time, it is determined whether or not the print stop flag is set. Therefore, if the print stop switch 11 is pressed during this time, the printing is stopped, the printed portion is separated from the roll paper, and is discharged from the ticket issuing unit 7 to the outside.

As described above, even when the print stop switch 11 is pressed immediately after the start of printing, the roll paper is cut off after the printing of the predetermined number of dot lines is always performed. An extremely short ticket is not generated, and a ticket having a predetermined length or more is always generated even if the length is not one sheet. Specifically, for example, print density 3
At the time of 00 dpi, when one line is printed by the conventional apparatus and then cut off, it is cut off by the printing of about 40 dot lines, so that a ticket strip having a length of about 0.13 inch is equivalent to this. However, in the apparatus according to the present embodiment, printing for a predetermined dot line is always executed so that only a ticket longer than at least 1 inch is generated.

As a result, it is possible to prevent the bill pieces generated by the printing cancellation from digging into the narrow gap between the cutting section 6 and the ticket issuing section 7 and accumulating, and to remove or clean the short bill pieces accumulated inside the apparatus. It can be unnecessary.

Further, since it is possible to prevent the generation of an extremely short ticket, the ticket remaining on the cutting portion 6 may cause a malfunction of the optical sensor or the like due to the ticket remaining on the optical sensor portion of the cutting portion 6. As a result, it is possible to prevent a cut defect, a paper jam, or the like that occurs when the roll paper that is inserted to issue the next ticket is overlapped and separated. As a result, it is possible to prevent the ticket generated by the print cancellation from affecting the processing after the print cancellation.

Further, in the present embodiment, since the stop flag is checked in the unit of one line dot, compared with the conventional check of the stop flag in the unit of one line, the roll paper is sent from the print stop command from the print stop switch 11. It is possible to shorten the time required to start the carrying process.

Also, after the printing is stopped, the line head 10 and the cutting unit 6 are fed by the distance between them and then cut, so that it is possible to prevent double printing when printing is performed in the next ticketing process. Further, it is particularly effective when the distance between the line head 10 and the cutting unit 6 is shorter than the invalid paper transport length of the interrupt routine.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the lid 8 is provided with the line head 10, but the line head 10 is composed of any one of a thermal head, an ink jet head and an impact head. You may.

Further, although the line head 10 is used as the print head in the embodiments of the present invention, the print head is not necessarily limited to this, and a serial type print head is used. May be.
In this case, the print head can be moved in the main scanning direction to print a plurality of lines.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the print unit 2 is provided with the print stop switch 11, and it is detected whether or not the print stop switch 11 is pressed,
As described in the process of ST5 shown in FIG. 2, the process of determining whether or not to cancel the printing has been described.
Instead of detecting the status of the above, it is monitored whether or not a print cancel command is received from the host computer 26, and when it is determined that the print cancel command is received, it is determined that the print is canceled and the subsequent processing is performed. It may be performed. With this, the same effect as described above can be obtained, and in addition to this, since the print stop switch 11 can be eliminated, the number of parts can be reduced.

[0047]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the need for removing and cleaning short bills accumulated inside the apparatus, and to affect the processing after the printing is stopped. It is possible to provide a preventable printer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart showing ticket issuing control performed by the CPU shown in FIG. 1, in which (a) is a main routine and (b) is an interrupt routine.

FIG. 3 is an overall perspective view showing an external configuration of a conventional printer.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the printer shown in FIG.

5 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the printer shown in FIG.

6 is a flowchart showing ticket issuing control performed by a control unit of the printer shown in FIG. 3, (a) being a main routine and (b) being an interrupt routine.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 4a, 4b ... Roll paper 6 ... Cutting section 10 ... Line head 11 ... Printing stop switch 21 ... CPU

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer for printing one line or a plurality of lines on a roll paper by a print head, separating the printed portion and discharging it to the outside when printing is completed, is provided with a print stop switch for interrupting printing, A printer characterized in that even if the print stop switch is pressed during the print processing, the print processing is always performed for a predetermined number of dot lines, and then the print is stopped and the printed portion is separated from the roll paper. 2. A printer that prints on a roll paper one line or a plurality of lines by a print head, cuts off the printed portion and discharges the printed paper to the outside when the printing is completed, and a print cancel switch for interrupting the printing. When the print stop switch is pressed during processing, a state storage means for storing the state is provided, and after the start of print output, a predetermined number of dot lines are continuously printed, and then one dot line or a plurality of dot lines are printed. If the status storage means is monitored and it is determined that the status storage means does not store the state in which the print stop switch is pressed, the printing is continued, and the state storage means presses the print stop switch. A printer that stops printing and separates the printed portion from the roll paper when it is determined that the print data is stored. 3. A printer for printing one line or a plurality of lines on a roll paper by a print head, separating the printed portion and discharging it to the outside when printing is completed, receives a print cancel command from the outside during printing processing. Even if a predetermined number of dot lines are printed, the printer is stopped and the printed portion is separated from the roll paper. 4. A printer which prints on a roll paper line by line or a plurality of lines by a print head, and when the printing is completed, the printed portion is separated and discharged to the outside,
When a print cancel command is received from the outside during print processing,
State storage means for storing the state is provided, and after the start of print output, a predetermined number of dot lines are continuously printed, and then the state storage means is monitored every time one dot line or a plurality of dot lines are printed. If it is determined that the state where the print stop command is received is not stored, printing is continued, and if it is determined that the state storage unit stores the state where the print stop command is received, printing is stopped. A printer for separating a printed portion from the roll paper.