JPS5943318B2 - Passbook printing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a passbook printing device that automatically prints transaction details on a deposit passbook in, for example, an automatic deposit machine.

In recent years, automatic deposit passbooks, for example, have been developed and put into practical use as banking operations become more labor-saving.

Such automatic deposit machines are generally equipped with a printing device that automatically prints transaction details on a bankbook brought by a user. Therefore, in this type of printing device, when printing, it is necessary to determine whether or not there is a printing trend on the printing surface of the passbook and to specify the line to be printed, that is, the printing position. However, the conventional printing position designation method is to print optical line marks in advance on the print surface of the passbook corresponding to each print line, and then use a light source that irradiates the print surface with a narrow spot light and its reflected light. The line mark is detected by spot-scanning the printed surface of the inserted passbook parallel to the conveyance direction using the receiving light-receiving element, and the output of the light-receiving element is integrated between the detection signals, and the output voltage is used to detect the printing. The presence or absence is detected to determine whether there is a printing trend, and based on the determination result, a printing position is specified and a printing operation is started. However, with these conventional methods, the printing surface is spot-scanned with a narrow field of view, so it is difficult to detect the presence or absence of printing accurately unless there is a high density of printing. I can't do it. If there are variations in printing density or blurring of printing, etc., it may be determined that there is no printing, and there is a risk that double printing will be performed. Furthermore, when printing is performed across lines, it is not possible to accurately determine the presence or absence of printing trends, and there is a risk of double printing. Furthermore, if it is not printed at a certain position, it cannot be detected, and therefore it may be restricted by the printing device. In addition, line marks are printed on the printing surface, and the presence or absence of printing is detected based on the line mark detection signal, so it cannot be used for passbooks without line marks, making it highly versatile. There was also the problem of a lack of The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide accurate detection of the presence or absence of printing without being restricted by printing density, printing condition, printing position, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a passbook printing device that can accurately determine the printing position, always accurately specify the printing position, and in particular can reliably prevent double printing.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows, for example, a deposit passbook P with its predetermined pages opened, printed by the printing device of the present invention, and between the front cover 1 and the back cover 2 there are a plurality of pages 3 in the form of a booklet. Each printing surface of these pages 3 is provided with a plurality of printing lines 4 (for example, 24 lines).

Each of these printing lines 4 is provided with a date printing column, a deposit amount printing column, a payment amount printing column, a balance stamp printing column, and the like. FIG. 2 schematically shows, for example, an automatic teller machine in which the printing device of the present invention is used. A substantially L-shaped operating section 6 is formed on the front surface of the housing 5, and the operating section 6 is vertically On the surface are a card insertion slot 7 into which a personal identification card is inserted, a bankbook insertion slot 8 into which the above-mentioned bankbook P shown in FIG.
A deposit slot 11 for inserting bank notes to be deposited, an amount display section 12 for displaying the deposited amount, a deposit approval key 13, a deposit non-approval key 14, etc. are provided on the horizontal surface. It is provided. The passbook printing device of the present invention is housed in the casing 5 corresponding to the passbook insertion slot 8, and is configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, 21 is a passbook guide frame, which communicates with the passbook insertion slot 8.
The passbook P inserted in the direction of the arrow shown in the open state
guide horizontally. When the passbook P is inserted into the guide frame 21, the tip of the passbook P is detected by the optical detector 22, and the solenoid 23 is operated to open the shutter plate 24, and the pulse motor 25 This action drives the conveyor 26, so that the conveyance path 26 conveys and takes in the bankbook P while holding the bankbook P at its approximate center.
The conveyance path 26 is composed of a front conveyance path 261 and a rear conveyance path 262 that are arranged in series, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, and is driven by the pulse motor 25.
The passbook P transported by the transport path 26 is transferred between a platen roller 27 and a tension roller 28 provided at the end of the transport path 26, and is held and transported by these rollers 27 and 28. The rollers 27 and 28 are driven by the pulse motor 25. A wire dot type print head 29, for example, is provided above the platen roller 27. This print head 29 prints predetermined data in dots on the print surface of the passbook P for each line by sliding its support base 30 along the rod 34 by a pulse motor 31, wire 32, and pulley 33. It is designed to be printed. In the figure, 35 is an ink ribbon, and 36 is an ink ribbon cassette. On the other hand, a first detector 37 for optically detecting the trailing edge of the passbook P to be transported is provided near the starting end of the front transport path 261 constituting the transport path 26. The vessel 37 has a light source 371 and this light source 37
The light receiving element 372 receives light from the light receiving element 372.

Further, a second detector 38 is provided approximately midway through the front conveyance path 261 to optically detect the trailing edge of the passbook P that is also conveyed. , and a light receiving element 38 that receives light from this light source 38.
2. Furthermore, a light source 39 is provided near the end of the front conveyance path 26, and irradiates a predetermined portion of the printing surface of the passbook P being conveyed, such as the date column of the printing line 4, with light. By receiving the light from the printing surface by the light source 39 via the reflection optical system 40,
Photoelectric converter 41 that scans the date printing column and converts it photoelectrically.
is provided. That is, the photoelectric converter 41 is
As the passbook P is conveyed, the printed surface of the passbook P is optically scanned in the row direction for each row over a predetermined area (for example, the date printing column) and photoelectrically converted. The photoelectric converter 41 is, for example, a so-called self-scanning line array formed by arranging a large number of solid-state image sensors (image sensors) in a straight line.
It is disposed perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the passbook P. In addition, the distance between the center of the photoelectric converter 41 and the center of the first detector 37! 1 is approximately equal to the distance between the upper edge of the first line of the printing surface of the passbook P and the rear edge of the passbook P, and the photoelectric converter 4
The distance 112 between the center of 1 and the center of the second detector 38 is approximately equal to the distance between the upper edge of the 13th line of the printed surface of the bankbook P and the rear edge of the bankbook P.

That is, the first detector 37 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P when the upper edge of the first line of the printed surface is located approximately at the center of the photoelectric converter 41, and the first detector 37 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P at approximately the center of the photoelectric converter 41. The arrangement relationship between the eleventh second detectors 37 and 38 and the photoelectric converter 41 is such that the second detector 38 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P when the upper edge of the thirteenth line of the printed surface is located at Set. FIG. 5 shows a print position designation control circuit of the printing device configured as described above, in which the output of the photoelectric converter 41 is subjected to analog processing in an analog processing section 51 and then supplied to a level comparison section 52. Ru.

This level comparison section 52 is a circuit that slices the output signal of the analog processing section 51 at a predetermined level for each scanning line and quantizes it into black and white levels. On the other hand, the 11th and 2nd
The outputs of the detectors 37 and 38 are supplied to a pseudo row signal generator 53. The pseudo row signal generating section 53 is a circuit that sequentially generates pseudo row signals according to the outputs of the eleventh second detectors 37 and 38. That is, when the first detector 37 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P, the detection signal is used as the row signal for the first row, and the subsequent row signals for the second to twelfth rows are the first row signal. After the detector 37 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P,
For example, by counting the driving pulses of the pulse motor 25, a pseudo line signal is sequentially outputted every predetermined number of pulses corresponding to the line spacing on the printing surface. Similarly, when the second detector 38 detects the trailing edge of the passbook P, the detection signal is used as the line signal for the 13th line, and the 14th
For the row signals from the 24th row to the 24th row, pseudo row signals are sequentially outputted every predetermined number of pulses by counting the pulses. Therefore, for example, a pseudo line signal is output at a position corresponding to a line mark conventionally printed on the printing surface. ``The line signal output from the pseudo line signal generating section 53 is supplied to the printing presence/absence detecting section 54 together with the output signal of the level comparing section 52. This printing presence/absence detection section 54 counts the bits quantized and determined to be black level by the level comparison section 52, for example, for each scanning line until the next row signal is output, and when the counted number exceeds a set value. This is a circuit that detects the presence or absence of printing in each printing line by determining that there is printing when the value is , and that there is no printing when it is less than that. Note that the above setting values are appropriately set depending on the size of printed characters and the line spacing. Furthermore, the criteria for determining whether or not to skip a line when it is printed out of alignment above or below the line varies to some extent depending on the type of printed character. In other words, for characters with high printing density, l
When the next line is about 2 lines, it is determined that there is printing on the next line, and if it is a character with low printing density, it is not determined that there is printing unless several lines are scanned. Therefore, each time one line is scanned, it is determined whether there is printing or not, and a margin such as back printing is taken, and the line that is determined to be white, for example, 2 lines, is determined to be the printing boundary, and a predetermined line is determined from this line and the line signal. It is determined whether the print on the upper row is the one printed on the row above or not based on the point in time when the paper has been conveyed by the number of pulses, that is, the position relative to the center line of the row. In other words, when there is no printing for one scan, the number of scans with no printing after that scan is counted, and when there is no printing a predetermined number of times, the scanned area with no printing is closer to the printed line than the center line of the line. If it is on the printed line side of the center line, it is determined that there is printing on the printed line side of the line, and the line (from the center line) is also on the unprinted line side. If there is, it is determined that there is printing on the line. The output of the printing presence/absence detection section 54 is supplied to the latest printed line number storage section 55 together with the line signal output from the pseudo line signal generation section 53.

The 5-line number storage section 55 counts the above-mentioned line signals, for example, and when a printing presence signal is output from the printing presence/absence detection section 54, stores the count contents at that time, and thereafter uses the stored contents as the above-mentioned printing presence signal. This circuit detects the number of the latest (ie, final) 9 printed lines by updating it every time it is input. Further, the row signal outputted from the pseudo row signal generating section 53 is supplied to the all row scanning end determining section 56. The all-row scanning completion determination section 56 is a circuit that determines whether or not scanning of all rows has been completed, for example, by counting the above-mentioned row signals. Thus, the output signal of the all-line scanning end determining section 56 is supplied to the print position determining section 57 together with the output of the line number storage section 55. This print position determination unit 57 is a circuit that determines the line to be printed, that is, the print position, according to the contents of the line number storage unit 55 at that time, when the full line scan end signal is output from the full line scan end determination unit 56. It is. The output of the print position determining section 57 is supplied to a print position specifying section 58. The print position specifying section 58 supplies a specified number of pulses corresponding to the print position determined by the print position determining section 57 to the pulse motor 25, and continues to move the passbook P until the determined print position corresponds to the print head 29. This circuit specifies the printing position by transporting and stopping the paper. This causes the next line after the last printed line to be placed in the print head 29.
It will stop in response to this. Next, the operation in the above configuration will be explained.

For example, when a user inserts his or her bankbook P into the inserter 8 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. When the tip of the passbook P is detected by the detector 22, the solenoid 2
3 operates to open the shutter plate 24, and at the same time, the pulse motor 25 operates to drive the conveyance path 26, and the inserted passbook P is nipped and conveyed in the conveyance path 26 and taken inside, and is printed. It is transported toward the head 29. Thereafter, when the first detector 37 detects the rear edge of the passbook P, the detection signal is used as the line signal for the first line as described above, and the subsequent lines from the second line to the 12th line are Row signals are sequentially output from the pseudo row signal generating section 53. Similarly, when the second detector 38 detects the trailing edge of the thread P, as described above, the detection signal is used as the row signal for the 13th row, and the subsequent 14th to 24th rows are Row signals are sequentially output from the pseudo row signal generating section 53. When the row signal of the first row is output, the row signal is used as the scanning start signal of the photoelectric converter 41, and at this time, the photoelectric converter 41 Since the date-printed fields in the rows correspond, the photoelectric converter 41 scans the date-printed fields in the row direction, that is, from left to right, a predetermined number of times until the next row signal (second row) is output. and photoelectric conversion.

At this time, the output voltage from the photoelectric converter 41 is approximately proportional to the density of the printed surface. This photoelectric converter 41
The output is sent to the level comparison unit 5 via the analog processing unit 51.
2, where it is sliced at a predetermined level, quantized into black and white levels, and supplied to the print presence/absence detection section 54. The printing presence/absence detection section 54 detects the presence or absence of printing by counting the bits determined to be the black level by the level comparison section 52 as described above, and outputs the detection result to the line number storage section 55. At this time, the determination of no printing is as follows:
This is due to the number of bits of the black level being zero (0) or a predetermined value, and when there is no printing during one scan, the number of scans without printing after that scan is counted,
When there is no printing a predetermined number of times, it is determined that there is no printing in that scanning line. Therefore, the line number storage unit 55 counts the line signals, and when the print presence detection unit 54 outputs the print presence signal, the count contents at that time are stored, thereby detecting the number of printed lines. . The above operation is repeated sequentially for each row after the second row. In this way, the presence or absence of printing is detected by optically scanning a predetermined area, that is, the date printing field, in the row direction between row signals with the photoelectric converter 41, and the presence or absence of printed rows, that is, printed rows, is detected. This is to detect the number of the last printed lines. In this way, the photoelectric converter 41 sequentially scans each row as the passbook P is transported, and when the scanning of all rows, that is, the 24th row is completed,
The full-row scanning end determination section 56 outputs a full-row scanning end signal.

Thereby, the print position determining section 57 determines the line to be printed, that is, the print position, according to the contents of the line number storage section 55 at this time. For example, if the content of the line number storage unit 55 is "2", this means that the last printed line is the second line, and therefore the printing position is determined to be the third line. be. When the print position is determined in this way, the print position specifying section 58 supplies the pulse motor 25 with a prescribed number of pulses corresponding to the determined print position, that is, the line to be printed, and the determined print position is The passbook P is conveyed until it corresponds to the print head 29 and then stopped. As a result, the line following the last printed line, for example, the third line in the above example, is stopped in correspondence with the print head 29. In this way, the last printed line is detected based on the result of scanning all lines from the 1st line to the 24th line, and the print position is designated. At this point, the print head 29 is operated by being supplied with a print command and predetermined print data from the control unit of the automatic cash deposit machine, and the date, deposit amount, balance balance, etc. are displayed in each of the print fields. It is printed. When printing is completed, the passbook P is returned to its insertion slot 8 by rotating the pulse motor 25 in the reverse direction. As explained above, according to the above embodiment, for example, a self-scanning line array with high resolution and a wide field of view is used as a photoelectric converter, and this photoelectric converter scans the printed surface of a bankbook line by line. By scanning a predetermined area (date printing field) in the direction, the presence or absence of printing is detected and the presence or absence of a printed line is determined, so the detection condition is relaxed so that it is only necessary that there is printing within a wide field of view. Even with low-density printing, printing that spans between lines, or even if the position of the printed characters is not constant, the accuracy of detecting the presence or absence of printing can be obtained without being restricted by these, and it is possible to detect printed lines. The presence or absence can be accurately determined, and the printing position can always be specified accurately.

Also, when there is no printing during one scan, the number of scans without printing after that scan is counted, and only when there is no printing a predetermined number of times is it determined that there is no printing, and the next line to be printed is specified. , There is no risk of double printing due to uneven printing density or blurred printing, which is mistakenly judged as no printing, as in the case of the conventional method.
When determining the next line to be printed when printing is performed between lines, if it is acceptable for some of the printing to overlap, printing may be performed on the spanning line. In general, when it comes to bankbooks and the like, it is good to skip 10,000 lines of printing, but it is desirable to avoid double printing as much as possible, so in that case, just print on the next line.

Furthermore, the presence or absence of printing is determined by detecting the presence or absence of printing based on the black and white levels for each l scanning line, so the presence or absence of printed lines is determined.
For example, when a line is printed with a vertical shift, the skip standard does not vary depending on the printed characters, and more accurate judgment can always be made.

Furthermore, pseudo line signals are sequentially generated based on the edge detection signal of the bankbook being conveyed, and the presence or absence of printing is detected based on this line signal, so it can be used with bankbooks of any format, such as bankbooks without line marks. This provides an extremely convenient and versatile printing device. In the embodiment described above, only the date printing column of each line was scanned to detect the presence or absence of printing, but for example, only the balance printing column or the entire line may be scanned.

Furthermore, although the printed surface is sequentially scanned line by line from the first line, for example, the insertion force direction of the passbook may be reversed and the printed surface is sequentially scanned line by line from the last line. Further, the photoelectric converter is not limited to a self-scanning line array using a solid-state image pickup device, but may also use a photoelectric conversion device having a similar function, an image pickup tube, or the like. In addition, two detectors were used to detect the trailing edge of the passbook, and a pseudo line signal was generated based on each detection signal, but one detector was used to detect the trailing edge of the passbook. , a pseudo row signal may be generated based on the detection signal. In addition, in the above embodiment, pseudo line signals are sequentially generated based on the passbook edge detection signal, and the presence or absence of printing is detected based on this line signal. A mark may be printed in advance, and the presence or absence of printing may be detected according to the present invention based on the detection signal of this line mark.

In addition, we have explained the case where it is applied to a printing device that prints transaction details on a deposit passbook in an automatic deposit machine. The same can be applied to a printing device that automatically prints. In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

As detailed above, according to the present invention, the printing surface of a passbook is optically scanned multiple times for each line in the line direction to detect the presence or absence of printing, and when there is no printing during one scan, the presence or absence of printing is detected. The number of scans without printing after scanning is counted, and when there is no printing a predetermined number of times, it is determined whether the scanned part with no printing is on the printed line side of the center line of the line, and If it is on the printed line side, it is determined that there is printing on the printed line side of the line, and when it is on the unprinted side of the center line, it is determined that there is printing on the line, and based on the judgment result. Since the next printing position is specified based on the print density, printing presence/absence detection accuracy is achieved without being restricted by printing density, printing condition, printing position, etc., and the presence/absence of printed lines can be accurately determined. You can always specify the printing position accurately. In particular, it is possible to provide a passbook printing device that can reliably prevent double printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 shows a bankbook in an open state, Fig. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing an automatic deposit machine, and Fig. 3 shows the configuration of a printing device. FIG. 4 is a side view showing details of the main parts in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a print position designation control circuit. 8... Passbook insertion slot, P... Passbook, 26
...General feed path, 29...Print head, 3
7, 38...Detector, 41...Photoelectric converter, 54...Print presence/absence detection unit, 55...
. . . Latest printed line number storage section, 56 . . . Full line scanning end determination section, 57 . . . Print position determination section, 5
8...Print position specification section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a passbook printing device that prints predetermined data for each line on a passbook that has multiple lines of printing on the printing surface, the printed surface of the passbook is scanned with light multiple times for each line in the row direction to determine whether or not there is printing. means for counting the number of scans without printing after one scan when there is no printing during one scan; It is determined whether or not the line is on the printed line side of the center line of the line, and if it is on the printed line side of the center line, it is determined that there is printing on the line on the printed line side of the line, A passbook printing device characterized by comprising means for determining that there is printing on that line when it is on the unprinted line side of the center line, and specifying the next printing position based on the judgment result. .