JPS5876275A - Multi-color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to correctly print character in a desired color by providing a means for prohibiting printing when the current color information of an ink supply means which is mounted to be freely installed and removed does not coincide with the color information instructed by a keyboard. CONSTITUTION:A recognizing unit 9 formed on the rear of the case of an ink ribon cartridge 1 recognizes the colors of 8 kinds of ink ribbon by means of a detector 12 wherein 3 microswitches are arranged in parallel and its information signal is memorized in a color memory 13. On the one hand, when a print instruction signal is given, character codes and color codes are transferred in sequence from a print memory 17 to a buffer memory 19 in response to a readout signal of a control circuit 18 and the codes are temporarily memorized therein. A comparison circuit 20 compares the color data of a color memory 20 with that of the buffer memory 19, and it transfers character data to a character generator 21 only when both data coincide. When both data do not coincide with each other, a vcoid pattern is sent to the control circuit 18 which, in turn, stops the supply of power of a thermal head 7.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a multicolor printing device capable of multicolor printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a new multicolor printing device that has a simple structure, is inexpensive, and can reliably print in desired colors.

The present invention will be described in detail below based on drawings of embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention, in which an ink ribbon cartridge and a cartridge are mounted on a carrier 2 of the thermal transfer printer. The ink ribbon 3 is wound around the supply reel 4, and after passing through the printing paper 6 on the platen 5 and the thread of the thermal head 7, it is taken up on the take-up reel 8. While the carrier 2 travels in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the ink ribbon 3 is sent in the direction of the arrow B, and printing is performed with the door pressing the inked ribbon 3 against the printing paper 6.

The rear VC of the case of the ink ribbon cartridge l is formed with an identification portion 9 for identifying the color of the stored ink ribbon. This identification section 9 is.

It is formed by providing notches at desired positions according to the color of the ink ribbon, and in the figure, the notches are provided in the order of notch 10, non-notch 11, and notch IO from the right.

A detector 12 with a 3-bit configuration, that is, three microswitches arranged in parallel, is placed in front of this identification section 9, and a total of 8 types of identification is possible.In this embodiment, a notch was provided in the identification section 18. However, even in the middle of the day, it was detected well! may be an optical sensor. Furthermore, in addition to changes in shape such as undulations, a bar code, a silver screen, etc. may be attached, and an optical sensor may be used to detect changes in light reception.

Ink ribbon color No. 46 e detected by the detector 12
Well, it is stored in the color memory 13.

The key gate 14 shown in Fig. 2 is used to input the data to be printed, and includes a group of character keys 15 for inputting kana, alphabets, numbers, kanji, and other symbols, and a color key for specifying the color of the characters to be printed. A group consists of 16. keyboard 1
The print data consisting of character data and color data inputted from 4 is sequentially stored as a character code and a color code in a print memory 170 which is a RAM, a character code storage section 17A, and a color code storage section 17B. When inputting the same print data, for example, when manually inputting black character data, which is frequently used, you can easily input the data by using a stock that stores the black color data by operating the next character key without operating the color key. It becomes simple. When a print command signal is input, print data consisting of character codes and color codes is sequentially transferred from the print memory 17 to the backup memo IJ 19 and temporarily stored therein in response to a read signal from the control circuit 18.

The comparison circuit 20 compares the 30 color data of the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge 1 stored in the color memory 13 with the color data in the print data transferred from the print memory 17 and stored in the buffer memory 19, and compares both. Only when the characters match, the character data is transferred to the character generator 21, and the character generator 21 converts the character pattern corresponding to the character code of the transferred character data into the control circuit 1.
Transfer to 8. The control circuit 18 energizes the thermal head 7 based on the character pattern transferred from the character generator 21 to print. After a 0 is printed, the carrier 2 moves in the direction of the person by one digit, and prints the next print. The data 0 color code and the memory peaks and valleys of the color memory 13 are compared.

If the color data of the print data stored in the buffer memory 19 and the color of the ink ribbon 3 detected by the detector 12 do not match, printing at that digit is prohibited,
Move on to printing the next digit. That is, the print data is transferred to the print memory 17 and stored again. At the same time, blank data 0021VC is transferred, and the UG 21 transfers the blank turn to the switching circuit 18. When the blank pattern is transferred, the control circuit 18 does not energize the thermal head 7, and furthermore, although water is not shown in the figure, the motor for driving the ink ribbon 3 or something similar stops moving, and the ink ribbon 3 is not sent. In this way, the carrier 2 is moved in the A direction (one digit). In this way, the ink ribbon 3 is fed only when printing is performed, and is not fed in blank areas where printing is not performed, and the ink ribbon 3 is not fed in the blank area. shall not be done.

The above operations are performed sequentially, and only the print data corresponding to the color of the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge L currently mounted on the carrier 2 is printed on each of the print paper V corresponding digits out of the print data of all the digits. Thereafter, when the control circuit 18 stores unprocessed print data in the print memory 17, a separate O
A command is issued to replace the ink ribbon cartridge with a colored ink ribbon cartridge, and the display device 21 displays the command to notify the operator.

When the ink ribbon cartridge is replaced, the shape of the identification part 9 of the ink ribbon cartridge 1 is detected by the detector 12 as described above, and 30 colors of the ink ribbon are stored in the color memory 13. The remaining print data is processed and printed in the same manner as described above.

The above operations are repeated until all print data in the print memory 17 has been printed.

In the above description, the display device 22 simply displays a message indicating cartridge replacement, but the control circuit 18 reads the color data included in the print data group in the print memory 17 and installs a cartridge with a 1% constant color. It is also possible to display it as follows.

Further, although the above embodiment is a thermal transfer printer, it goes without saying that it can also be applied to other impact type printers using ink ribbon cartridges, impact type printers using ink rollers, etc.

As described above, the present invention includes a means for prohibiting printing when the current color information of the ink supply means that is detachably loaded and the color information instructed from the keyboard do not match, so that the desired color can be printed without error. In addition to printing, the ink supply means can be replaced based on the color information instructed from the keyboard, so the ink supply means can be used effectively.

Effective for cost reduction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

---'-1 FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a keyboard. l... Ink ribbon cartridge, 2... Carrier, 3... Thermal transfer ink ribbon, 4... Supply reel, 5... Platen, 6... Print paper, 7...
Thermal head, 8... Take-up reel, 9... Identification part, lO... Notch, 11... Non-notch, 12...
Detector, 13... Color memory, 14... Keyboard, 15... One group of character keys, 16... One group of color keys, 17.
... Printed memo IJ, 1g... Control circuit, 19... Buffer memory, 20... Comparison circuit, 21... Character generator, 22... Display device. Applicant Canon Co., Ltd. r-? 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] A multicolor printing device characterized by comprising means for prohibiting printing when the current color information of a removably loaded ink supply means and the color information instructed from a keyboard do not match.