JPS5955755A - Printing control of color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the shift of a printing start position of each color, by a method wherein a mark is printed to a part of a negative and, in printing of the negative after the second time, printing is started when the mark is detected in the paper discharge side of a printing part. CONSTITUTION:When paper 1 and a ribbon 2 are set and a print button is pushed, a platen roller 3 is forwardly rotated and, after a predetermined pulse is supplied to a pulse motor, a plurality of marks Ma are printed to the leading end part of negative divided by a perforation l1-l2. When the marks Ma are detected by a mark sensor 7, the printing of a cyan color is performed by a thermal head 4 and, when printing is finished, the platen roller 3 is reversely rotated to return the printing start point a1 of the paper 1 to a position passing the thermal head 4. In the next step, the platen roller 3 is forwardly rotated and, when the marks Ma are detected by the sensor 7, the printing of a magneta color is performed and a yellow color is similarily printed. By this method, the printing start position is not shifted even when the feed hole of the paper is deformed or the paper is deformed by a temp.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing control method for a color printer that performs color printing on paper.

Some color printers have cyan and magenta.

There is a color printer that uses an ink ribbon on which ink of three colors (yellow) is applied in reverse order and sequentially thermally transfers the three colors of ink onto paper to produce seven colors using a subtractive color method. In order to obtain a clear color image with such a color printer, it is necessary that each of the cyan, magenta, and yellow images match perfectly. Here, a conventional image alignment method used in the above-mentioned color printer will be explained with reference to FIG. In this figure, numeral 1 is a sheet of paper, and this sheet of paper 1 is brought into contact with the outer periphery of the platen roller 3 and conveyed by the platen roller 23. In this case, feed holes are provided on both sides of the paper 1, and these feed holes serve as platen rows.
53 feed pins 3a, 3a... 2 is an ink ribbon to which cyan, magenta, and yellow ink is sequentially applied;
It is then transported to the left in the drawing (in the direction of the arrow) by another transport system (not shown). A thermal head 4 is provided close to the left side of the platen roller 3, and is brought into pressure contact with the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2 during printing. In the figure, points al+"4 are the printing start position and printing end position of paper l, respectively, and the length between points al-a2 is a partial length. In addition, the points on the ink ribbon 2, - The area between bt (approximately one length) is the area where cyan ink is applied, and the area on the right between 20 ink 'b, -b and ink is magenta, yellow, cyan, and yellow with the same area width. Ink of magenta, . The conveyance of the paper 1 is controlled by supply pulses to the stepping motor.

Now, in the above-described configuration, when the platen row 23 rotates clockwise (forward rotation), the paper 1 and the ink ribbon 2
are conveyed while being overlapped on the lower surface of the platen row 23, and at the same time, the thermal head 4 is activated. It presses against the ink ribbon 2 to print cyan on the paper 1.

When the printing end position a of the paper 1 and the point bt of the ink ribbon 2 reach the position of the thermal head 4, the thermal head 4 is released from pressure and the platen roller 3 is rotated counterclockwise while the ink ribbon 2 is stopped. Rotate in the direction (reverse)
and conveys the paper 1 in the direction of the broken line arrow B. in this case,
The amount of drive of the platen roller 3 in the reverse direction is made equal to the amount of drive in the forward direction of one negative portion. That is, the number of pulses supplied to the stepping motor is the same as during normal rotation. As a result, the printing start position a1 of the paper 1 reaches the position of the thermal head 4 again. At this time, since point b2 of the ink ribbon 2 is at the position of the thermal head 4, the paper 1
Ink ribbon 2 in the part facing between 0 points al and at
is coated with magenta ink. After that, the above-mentioned operation is repeated to print cyan and magenta between 10 points al-ay of the paper.

Print using a composite color of yellow. In this way, in the color printer described above, color printing is performed by reciprocating the paper 1 three times, and the positioning of the paper 1 (i.e., image alignment) during each reciprocation is performed by adjusting the number of pulses supplied to the stepping motor. It's being controlled. Note that there is a color printer that rotates the cut paper three times while keeping it in contact with the outer periphery of the platen roller 3, thereby performing a printing operation similar to the above case (three reciprocating printing). Image alignment is also performed by controlling the number of pulses supplied to the stepping motor.

By the way, in the conventional image alignment method for color printers described above, the amount of drive of the platen roller for aligning the paper is predetermined by the number of pulses.
The feed hole of the paper may be deformed due to the reciprocating movement,
Alternatively, if the paper itself is deformed due to temperature, humidity, etc., deviations occur in the paper conveyance, resulting in deviations in the printing position of each color, making it impossible to obtain a clear color image.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention provides a printing control method for a color printer that can obtain a clear color image without color fading. In the printing process before a printed page, a mark is printed on a part of the page, and the mark is detected on the paper ejection side of a printing unit that conveys and prints on the paper, and in the second and subsequent printing of the page, the mark is printed on a part of the page. This method starts printing when the

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

Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the vicinity of the printing section of a color printer which is an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a printing example in the same embodiment, and Figs. 4 (a) to (g) are the same implementation. 5 is a timing chart for explaining the operation in an example. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to those in FIG. 1, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 2, numeral 7 denotes a mark sensor composed of a reflective photosensor 1), which detects the mark M printed on the paper l (see FIG. 3).

This mark sensor 7 is provided close to the paper 1 near the paper discharge side of the thermal head 4.

Next, the printing operation in this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

First, the paper 1 and the ribbon 2 are set in the state shown in FIG. 2, and then when the operator presses the print button etc. (shown in the figure) at time t1 shown in FIG. At the same time, the start signal STA is outputted, and the pulse motor drive signal PM is outputted as shown in FIG. Then, at time t when several tens of pulses are supplied to the pulse motor after the platen roller 3 is driven, the mark printing signal SM is generated.

is output (Figure 4 (c)). As a result, a of paper l
1-afi, that is, perforation 1 shown in FIG.

A mark Ma is printed on the true tip section (in this embodiment, the left side of the tip section) separated by -1.

In this case, the mark Ma is formed by printing several lines of 2 to 3 lengths in the paper conveyance direction. And then paper 1
is being conveyed, and when the mark sensor 7 detects the mark M& at time t, a detection signal 5EjN is output as shown in FIG. ) is output. Then, when the print synchronization signal EIIYN is output, a print data signal is supplied to the thermal head 4, and as a result, printing "a, b, c, a..." as shown in FIG.
...'' is performed on paper 1. The color of this occasional printing is cyan. This cyan print data signal (
When all the print signals (including the print signal) are supplied to the thermal head 4, the printing end signal END is output at time t4 shown in FIG.
e)) ends. Further, at the rising edge of the print end signal END, the pulse motor drive signal PM is stopped, paper conveyance is temporarily stopped, and the print end signal]! ! At the fall time t of ND, the reversal signal REV is output (see FIG. 4). When the reverse rotation signal REV is output, the platen roller 6 starts rotating in the reverse direction and begins to convey the paper 1 in the direction of arrow B in FIG. The reversal signal REV is output until time t6, but during this time, a high frequency drive pulse is supplied to the pulse motor, and as a result, the platen roller 6 rotates in reverse at high speed, and the printing start point al shown in FIG. Returned to position 4. In this case, the amount of return can be controlled by returning too much (not returning too much), and does not require a precise amount of return. Then, when the reverse rotation signal RE'V stops at time t, the platen roller 3 again rotates in the normal direction and conveys the paper 1 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. Then, as the conveyance of the paper 1 progresses, the mark sensor 7 detects the mark Ma at time t7, thereby outputting a detection signal SEN. When the detection signal SEN is output, the print synchronization signal SYN is output as in the case described above, and this print synchronization signal 8YH
A magenta print data signal is supplied to the thermal head 4 in synchronization with . Therefore, the positions of the cyan image that has already been printed and the magenta image that will be printed this time match. Thereafter, time t, ~to is the aforementioned time t4~t
, and this is a four-ball motion, and a yellow printing period Y (see (g) in the same figure) starts from time tl+. Then, when all yellow print data signals are supplied to the thermal head 4, a print end signal END is output (time t, 2), and at this point, the third
Perforation l shown in the figure.

Printing of the three colors cyan, magenta, and yellow on the pages separated by le2 is completed. Furthermore, the start signal STA is stopped at the rising edge of the print end signal K N D output at time t+2, and the entire printing operation for one page is completed. and,
After time tit, the platen roller 3 rotates for a predetermined period,
The paper 1 is conveyed (discharged) in the direction indicated by the arrow shown in FIG.

In this example, cyan and magenta.

When printing each color of yellow, printing was performed in synchronization with the print synchronization signal 8YN, but only during the first printing of cyan color, the print synchronization signal SYN was not used and the supply to the stepping motor was performed, for example. The start of printing may be controlled by counting a predetermined number of pulses from the start of driving the platen roller 3.

Furthermore, since the top end of the page is generally a blank space, if the mark M1 is printed at the top end of the page as in this embodiment, the mark M will not be noticeable.

Further, in this embodiment, the mark Ma is printed when printing the first color of a part of color printing, but instead of this, when printing any color during printing before the tooth split printing page, this page The mark M used for printing may also be printed.

As explained above, according to the present invention, a mark is printed on a part of the page during the printing of the first color in one page of color printing or in the printing process before the toothed printing page, and the mark is placed on the paper. The mark is detected on the paper ejection side of the printing unit that performs multiple feed printing, and printing is performed when the mark is detected in the second and subsequent printing of the page, so the paper feed hole is deformed. Alternatively, even if the paper itself is deformed due to temperature, humidity, etc., the printing start position of each color in the same-negative range will not shift, and as a result, an extremely clear color image can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration near the printing section of a conventional color printer, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the vicinity of the printing section of a color printer according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is the same. Diagrams showing printing examples in the example, Figures 4 (a) to (g)
are timing charts for explaining the operations in the same embodiment. 7... Mark sensor %M11... Mark. Applicant Shinko Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a print control method for a color printer that has a printing unit that sequentially prints multiple times in a specific color on the same page portion of the paper being conveyed, when printing the first color in one page of color printing or on a split printing page. In the previous printing process, a mark is printed on a part of the page, and the mark is detected on the paper ejection side of the printing unit, and in the second and subsequent printing of the page, when the mark is detected. A printing control method for a color printer in which starting printing is a sure sign.