JPH1076713A - Perfecting printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a perfecting printer wherein time for printing on both faces is shortened, and printing paper is not required to be set twice to the printer. SOLUTION: A front face printing head 4 for printing on a front face of printing paper 30, and a rear face printing head 5 for printing on a rear face of the printing paper 30 are respectively provided. Printing on both faces of the sensitive printing paper 30 is carried out by driving simultaneously the front printing head 4 and the rear face printing head 5 during a stay of one sheet of the printing paper 30 in a printer. Since both of the front face printing head and the rear face printing head are constituted of an ink jet type, perfecting printing can be realized at a low cost only by taking the minimum settling time for drying ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a double-sided simultaneous printing printer capable of printing on the front and back sides of printing paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Printer devices for printing on printing paper include:
Many types of printing methods have been put into practical use, including an impact method, a laser or LED method. Of these, sublimation thermal transfer type printers and ink jet printers have attracted attention because of their high image quality and high cost performance.

A sublimation thermal transfer printer uses a printing head to heat a film ribbon on which an ink which sublimates from a solid to a gas by heating is heated by a printing head, and transfers the gasified ink to paper on which a receiving layer is formed. And fix it.

[0004] Ink jet printers print by jetting liquid ink at high speed from thin nozzles and spraying it on paper.

Heretofore, it has been common practice to print only one side of these types of printers in the past. However, recently, for example, double-sided printing has been performed on printers as in the case of double-sided copying in a copying machine. Came to be required.

[0006]

However, if an attempt is made to print on both sides of the printing paper with the printer having the existing configuration as described above, the printing paper is loaded on the printer,
After printing on either the front side or the back side, the printing paper discharged from the printer must be turned over, loaded on the printer again, and printed again. This is troublesome and time-consuming, and a solution to these disadvantages has been desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems and disadvantages of the prior art, and has as its object to reduce the time for double-sided printing and eliminate the need to set the printing paper twice in a printer. And a double-sided simultaneous printing printer.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, a double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the present invention includes a front printing head and a back printing head, and one printing paper is used for the printing apparatus. By printing the front print head and the back print head simultaneously while the print paper stays in the printer, printing on both sides of the printing paper is performed. Therefore, double-sided simultaneous printing can be performed by loading only once by using a single printer and without loading the printing paper into the apparatus twice.

When the double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the present invention completes both one-line front printing on printing paper and one-side back printing on the same printing paper, Alternatively, if the printing paper is fed after that, printing of each line on the front surface and the back surface is performed reliably and accurately.

[0010] The double-sided simultaneous printing printer device of the present invention comprises a sheet detecting means, a front printing head control means,
It is provided with a back side print head control unit and a drive mechanism control unit. Therefore, if the paper is detected only in one of the front print area and the back print area, only one of the front print and the back print is performed, thereby preventing the occurrence of a printing error. Is done.

Similarly, when a sheet is detected in both the front print area and the back print area, both the front print and the back print are performed, and thus efficient two-sided simultaneous printing is performed. Is performed.

In addition, if the paper is not detected in both the front print area and the back print area, high-speed paper feed is performed, so that the print paper is loaded on the apparatus or the paper after the print is discharged from the apparatus. Performing at high speed enables efficient paper handling.

When both the front printing head and the back printing head of the double-sided simultaneous printing printer device of the present invention are of the sublimation heat transfer type, a settling time for drying the printing portion after printing is required. Therefore, high-speed simultaneous double-sided printing is realized.

Further, when both the front print head and the back print head of the double-sided simultaneous printing printer device of the present invention are of an ink jet type, a minimum settling time for drying the ink is required. Thus, low-cost simultaneous double-sided printing is realized.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of one embodiment of a two-sided simultaneous printing printer device according to the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, in a two-sided simultaneous printing printer device 1 according to the present invention, printing paper 30 is loaded from a loading port 31 provided at the upper right end of the case A in the drawing. Outlet 3 provided at the upper left corner in case A
Exhausted from 2. And the printing paper 3 loaded by the user
0 is automatically fed forward (to the left in the figure), and a printing head arranged forward in the traveling direction prints the front side first, and then prints the back side.

In the case A, the loading sensor 33, the first feed roller 8, the first pinch roller 6, the guide plate 7, the front printing platen roller 2, and the front are arranged in the traveling direction of the printing paper 30 in order. Surface printing head 4, first photo interrupter 1
1, a second pinch roller 9 and a second feed roller 10 are provided. The first feed roller 8 to the second feed roller 10 constitute a front print area.

Following the front print area, a back print platen roller 3, a back print head 5, a second photo interrupter 12, a third feed roller 13, and a third pinch roller 14 are provided. . The back side printing platen roller 3 to the third pinch roller 14 constitute the back side printing area.

A drive mechanism 16 for driving the rollers and the like, and a control unit 1 for controlling the entire operation are provided below the inside of the case A.
7, and a power supply unit 18 is provided.

The loading sensor 33 detects the loading of the printing paper 30. The first feed roller 8 rotates counterclockwise in contact with the back surface of the printing paper 30, and feeds the printing paper 30 to the left in the drawing with the printing paper 30 sandwiched between the first pinch rollers 6. The guide plate 7 adjusts the traveling direction of the printing paper 30.

The front printing platen roller 2 rotates counterclockwise while being wound in contact with the back surface of the printing paper 30,
The front printing head 4 prints on the front side of the printing paper 30. The first photo interrupter 11 detects the printing paper 30. The second feed roller 10 rotates counterclockwise in contact with the back surface of the printing paper 30, and feeds the printing paper 30 to the left in the figure with the printing paper 30 sandwiched by the second pinch roller 9.

The back side printing platen roller 3 rotates clockwise while being wound in contact with the front surface of the printing paper 30,
The back side printing head 5 prints on the back side of the printing paper 30. The second photo interrupter 12 detects the printing paper 30. The third feed roller 13 rotates clockwise in contact with the front surface of the printing paper 30, and sends the printing paper 30 to the feeding port 32 with the printing paper 30 sandwiched between the third pinch roller 14.

If both the front print head 4 and the back print head 5 are of a sublimation thermal transfer type, there is no need for a settling time for drying the print portion after printing, and therefore high-speed simultaneous double-side printing. This is preferable because In such a configuration using the sublimation thermal transfer printing head, it is necessary to dispose an ink ribbon (not shown). Further, as the printing paper 30, one having a sublimation diffusion layer (receptive layer) provided on both sides of the back surface is used.

Alternatively, both the front print head and the back print head may be of an ink jet type. In the case of this configuration, it is preferable to design the front print head 4 and the back print head 5 to have a long path distance in order to take the minimum settling time for ink drying.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of the drive mechanism. As shown in the figure, the driving mechanism 16 includes a stepping motor 50, a first gear 51 attached to a shaft of the stepping motor 50, and a second gear 5 meshing with the first gear 51.
2, a third gear 53 attached to the shaft of the front printing platen roller 2 and meshing with the second gear 52; and a fourth gear 53 similarly attached to the shaft of the front printing platen roller 2. A gear 55, a fifth gear 57 attached to the shaft of the first feed roller 8, and a first timing belt 59 meshing with the fourth gear 55 and the fifth gear 57 are provided.

Further, a sixth gear 5 attached to the shaft of the back side printing platen roller 3 and meshing with the first gear 51 is provided.
4, a seventh gear 56 also attached to the shaft of the back side printing platen roller 3, an eighth gear 58 attached to the shaft of the third feed roller 13, a seventh gear 56, and an eighth gear 5.
8 are provided with second timing belts 60 meshing with each other.

When the operation starts, the stepping motor 5
0 rotates counterclockwise. Accordingly, when the first gear 51 rotates counterclockwise, the second gear meshing with the first gear 51 is rotated.
The gear 52 rotates in the clockwise direction, and the third gear 53 meshing with the second gear 52 rotates in the counterclockwise direction. Thus, the front printing platen roller 2 rotates in the counterclockwise direction.

The counterclockwise rotation of the front printing platen roller 2 also rotates the fourth gear 55 in the counterclockwise direction, thereby turning the first timing belt 59 counterclockwise.
Thereby, the fifth gear 57 and the first feed roller 8 rotate in the counterclockwise direction.

On the other hand, the sixth gear 5 meshing with the first gear 51
Reference numeral 4 rotates clockwise, so that the back side printing platen roller 3 rotates clockwise.

By the clockwise rotation of the shaft of the back side printing platen roller 3, the sixth gear 54 also rotates clockwise,
The second timing belt 60 is clockwise. As a result, the eighth gear 58 and the third feed roller 13 rotate counterclockwise.

According to the above configuration, the printing paper 3
The first feed roller 8 in contact with the back side of the print paper 0 and the platen roller 2 for front printing rotate counterclockwise, and the platen roller for back printing in contact with the front side of the printing paper 30. 3, and the third feed roller 13 rotates clockwise, so that the printing paper 30 is fed smoothly.

In the above configuration, the diameter of each gear is designed so that the linear velocity on the surface of each roller is equal. In FIG. 2, the diameter of each gear is drawn on an individual scale different from the actual one for ease of explanation.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the second feed roller 10 shown in FIG. 1 is omitted for convenience of explanation.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control unit.
As shown in the figure, the control unit 17 is configured by a microcomputer including a CPU 76, a ROM 71, an interface 77, and the like connected to a common bus.

The ROM 71 includes a sheet detecting means 72, a front print head control means 73, a back print head control means 74, and a drive mechanism control means 75.
Is stored in an executable program format.

The paper detecting means 72 processes detection signals from the first and second photo interrupters. The front print head control means 73 controls the drive of the front print head 4, and the back print head control means 74 controls the drive of the back print head 5. Drive mechanism control means 7
5 controls the drive mechanism 16.

Next, the operation of the double-sided simultaneous printing printer 1 will be described. When the printing paper 30 is loaded from the loading port 31, the loading sensor 33 provided near the loading port 31 detects this. When the leading end of the printing paper 30 is at this position, the first photo interrupter 11 has not yet detected this printing paper.

Here, the first feed roller 8 rotates at high speed, and the leading end of the printing paper 30 is sandwiched between the first feed roller 8 and the first pinch roller 6.
High-speed paper feed is performed in the direction of the front printing platen roller 2.

The printing paper 30 passes through the guide plate 7 and is adjusted in direction, and is sent to the surface printing platen roller 2 which rotates at a high speed and proceeds.

When the leading end of the printing paper 30 reaches the first photo interrupter 11, the first photo interrupter 11
Detects the printing paper 30, whereby the front printing platen roller 2 and the first feed roller 8 stop rotating at a high speed, and enter a linewise stepwise feed state.

At this point, printing is started. In this state, since the leading end of the printing paper 30 has not yet reached the second photo interrupter 12, the second photo interrupter 12 has not been detected. Therefore, only the front printing head 4 for printing on the front surface of the printing paper 30 is driven, and the back printing head 5 is not driven.

As a result, printing is started on the front side of the printing paper 30, and printing is performed line by line. As the printing proceeds, the leading end of the printing paper 30 reaches the second feed roller 10 and the second pinch roller 9, is sandwiched between the two rollers 9 and 10, advances stepwise, and eventually reaches the back side printing platen roller 3. , And further to the second photo interrupter 12. During this time, printing on the front side has been continued.

When the leading end of the printing paper 30 reaches the second photo-interrupter 12, the second photo-interrupter 12 detects this printing paper 30, whereby the back printing head 5 is driven to start printing on the back surface. Then, printing of each line proceeds on the back side.

As described above, the first photo interrupter 11
In a state where both the sensors of the first and second photo interrupters 12 are detecting the printing paper 30, simultaneous printing on both the front and back surfaces of the printing paper 30 proceeds. That is, the printing paper 3
0 is the front print head 4 while staying in the printer device.
This is to drive the surface printing head 5 at the same time. The drive timing at the time of simultaneous printing on both sides will be described in detail later.

In the normal configuration, the printing paper 30 is sufficiently longer than the distance between the first photo-interrupter 11 and the second photo-interrupter 12, so that simultaneous printing on both the front and back surfaces is continued for a relatively long time.

When the printing on the front side is completed for the page or the printing limit at the lower end of the sheet is reached, the front printing head 4 stops driving.

In this state, since the printing on the back side is continuing, the stepwise progress of the printing paper 30 is continued. Therefore, thereafter, only the back side printing head 5 is driven, and only printing on the back side proceeds.

When the printing on the back side is completed for the page or the printing limit at the lower end of the sheet is reached, the driving of the back side printing head 5 is stopped.

Here, the third feed roller 13 and the back side printing platen roller 3 rotate at a high speed, and the third feed roller 13 is moved between the third feed roller 13 and the third pinch roller 14.
High-speed paper feed is performed in the direction of the feed port 32 across 0. As a result, the printing paper 30 printed on both the back side and the front side can be promptly sent to the sending / receiving port 3 without causing any thickening.
Exhausted from 2.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of the control unit. The printing paper 30 is loaded, and it is confirmed by the paper detecting means 72 whether the first photo interrupter 11 is in the detection state of the printing paper 30 (step S1). By 73, one-line printing is instructed to the front print head 4 (step S3).

Next, it is determined whether the second photo-interrupter 12 is in the state of detecting the printing paper 30 by the paper detecting means 72.
(Step S5), and if it is in the detection state, the back side print head control means 74 instructs the back side print head 5 to print one line (step S6).

In this state, it is confirmed whether or not one-line printing on the back surface is completed (step S8).
If line printing has not been completed, the process waits (step S
8).

After the completion of one-line printing on the back surface is confirmed in this way, it is subsequently confirmed whether or not one-line printing on the front surface is completed (step S9). Here, if the one-line printing on the front side is completed before the one-line printing on the back side is completed, the process immediately proceeds to step S10 to execute the paper feeding. Conversely, one line printing on the back side is completed quickly,
If one-line printing on the front side has not been completed, the process waits (step S9).

After the completion of one-line printing on both the back side and the front side in this way, the drive mechanism control means 75 sends a signal to the drive mechanism 16 to drive the stepping motor. Then, one line of paper is fed (step S10).

If the first photo-interrupter 11 is not in the detection state of the printing paper 30 (step S1) and the loading sensor 33 is in the detection state of the printing paper 30 (step S1).
2) Since the printing paper 30 is initially loaded, the high-speed paper feed mode is set.

On the other hand, if the first photo interrupter 11 is not in the detection state of the printing paper 30 (step S1) and the loading sensor 33 is not in the detection state of the printing paper 30 (step S2), the printing paper 30 has already passed. Then, the process proceeds to step S5.

If the second photo-interrupter 12 is not in the state of detecting the printing paper 30 (step S5), it is confirmed whether or not the printing paper 30 has passed the bottom line (step S7). If not, the process proceeds to step S9. Also, if you go beyond the bottom line of the paper,
Assuming that all double-sided printing has been completed, a high-speed paper feed mode is set, and the printing paper 30 is discharged at high speed.

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, one-line front printing on printing paper and one printing on the same printing paper can be performed.
The printing paper is fed when the printing of both the back side printing and the printing of the back side is completed, so that the printing of each line of the front side and the back side is performed reliably and accurately. . That is, in the middle of face printing or
There is no paper feeding due to the completion of printing on the other side during printing on the back side, and the content to be printed on one line is divided by unexpected paper feeding on the way, and the rest is printed on the next line. Can be avoided.

[0058]

The double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a front printing head and a back printing head, and a single printing paper stays in the printing apparatus. Since the printing is performed on both sides of the printing paper by simultaneously driving the front printing head and the back printing head, there is no need to load the printing paper twice in the apparatus with one printer device. , 1
Double-sided simultaneous printing can be obtained by loading only once.

A double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to a second aspect of the present invention is the double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the first aspect, wherein a single-line front-side printing on a printing paper is performed on the same printing paper. In this configuration, the printing paper is fed at the time when both the printing on the back side of one line and the printing on the back side are completed, or after that, the printing on each line on the front side and the back side is reliably and accurately performed. This has the effect of being done.

A double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises a paper detecting means, a front printing head control means, a back printing head control means, and a driving mechanism control means. Therefore, if the paper is detected in only one of the front print area and the back print area, only one of the front print and the back print is performed, and thus the print is performed. It is possible to avoid occurrence of a mistake.

Similarly, when a sheet is detected in both the front print area and the back print area, both the front print and the back print are performed, and thus efficient two-sided simultaneous printing is performed. Can be realized.

Further, when the paper is not detected in both the front print area and the back print area, the paper can be fed at a high speed, so that the print paper is introduced into the apparatus or the paper after the print is discharged from the apparatus. Is performed at a high speed, and efficient paper handling is enabled.

In the double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since both the front printing head and the back printing head are of the sublimation heat transfer type, the printing portion is dried after printing. No settling time is required, and high-speed simultaneous double-sided printing can be realized.

Further, in the double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since both the front printing head and the back printing head are of the ink jet type, the minimum required for drying the ink is provided. Only by taking the minimum settling time, there is an effect that low-cost simultaneous double-sided printing can be realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of a two-sided simultaneous printing printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main part configuration diagram of a drive mechanism shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit shown in FIG. 1;

4 is an operation flowchart of a control unit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Both-side simultaneous printing printer apparatus, 2 ... Platen roller for front side printing, 3 ... Platen roller for back side printing, 4 ... Front side printing head, 5 ... Back side printing head, 6 ...... First pinch roller, 7 ... Guide plate, 8 ...
1st feed roller, 9 ... 2nd pinch roller, 10 ... 2nd feed roller, 11 ... 1st photo interrupter, 12
... Second photo interrupter, 13 third feed roller, 14 third pinch roller, 16 drive mechanism, 1
7: control unit, 18: power supply unit, 30: printing paper, 3
1 ... loading port, 32 ... outlet, 33 ... loading sensor,
A: Case.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A front printing head for printing on a front surface of a printing paper, and a back printing head for printing on a back surface of the printing paper. A double-sided simultaneous printing printer device, wherein printing is performed on both sides of the printing paper by simultaneously driving the front printing head and the back printing head while staying in the apparatus. 2. A double-sided simultaneous printing printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a one-line front printing on said printing paper is performed.
2. The paper feeding of the printing paper is performed at the time when both the printing and the one-side back printing on the printing paper are completed or after that.
A double-sided simultaneous printing printer device as described in the above. 3. The double-sided simultaneous printing printer according to claim 1, wherein the sheet detecting means, the front face printing head control means, the back face printing head control means, and the drive mechanism control means are provided. 3. The double-sided simultaneous printing printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printing device is provided. 4. The double-sided simultaneous printing printer device according to claim 1, wherein both the front printing head and the back printing head are of a sublimation thermal transfer type. 5. The double-sided simultaneous printing printer device according to claim 1, wherein both the front printing head and the back printing head are of an ink jet type.