JPS6023064A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the printer capable of printing on various kinds of blank such as heat sensitive paper, OHP sheet, etc., by changing the duty of printing pulse impressing a heating resistant element according to the output of the measures for selection of printing paper, the measures for detection of cassette and the measures for detection of blank. CONSTITUTION:The possibility of printing is determined by inputting the output of the measures 4 for detection of the presence of film ink ribbon cassette, the measures 5 for detection of the presence of printing paper and the measures 6 for selective setting of the class of printing paper to the measures 7 for determination of printing. The output of the measures 6 for selection of blank is input to the measures 8 for storage of printing duty and the duty of suitable printing pulse according to the classification of blank is stored. Printing is controlled by inputting the output of the measures 7 for determination of printing and the measures 8 for storage of printing duty to the print driving part 9. When the printing is impossible, the alarm buzzer part 10 reports it with the buzzer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a printing device that applies a voltage to a heat generating resistor element of a head and performs printing using the heat of the heat generating resistor element.

Structure of conventional examples and their problems In recent years, the paper used for printers and electronic typelikes using heating resistive elements is not only thermal paper and plain paper, but also thermal type HP sheets and transfer type HP sheets. It's becoming more and more common.

A conventional printer will be explained below. Conventional printers require different printing energy depending on thermal paper, plain paper, thermal OHP sheet, and transfer type HP sheet, and many printers can only print on one of them. There were still some methods that printed on each paper by matching the printing energy of one paper, but this method had the problem of deterioration of printing distortion such as blurring and blurring due to the difference in printing energy. Furthermore, in those that use a reflective photosensor to detect the presence or absence of paper, thermal type OHP sheets and transfer type OHP sheets are transparent, so even if paper is inserted, it is not possible to print as if there is no paper.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a simple method for distinguishing between thermal paper, plain paper, heat-sensitive 2〇HP sheet, and transfer type OHP sheet, and enables printing on each type of paper. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that provides appropriate printing energy in each case.

Configuration of the Invention The printing device of the present invention includes a paper selection means for selecting paper;
A cassette presence/absence detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a film ink ribbon cassette, a paper presence/absence detection means for detecting the presence or absence of paper, and the paper selection means.

The apparatus includes: a print determination means that receives the outputs of the cassette presence/absence detection means and the paper presence/absence detection means and controls the print drive unit; and a print date storage unit that stores the duty of printing pulp and sets it in the print drive unit. The printing device selects one of thermal paper, plain paper, transfer type HP sheet, and thermal type HP sheet by switching the switch of the paper selection means, and selects one of the cassettes using the power cent presence detection means. The paper presence/absence detection means detects the presence or absence of paper, and the print duty storage means sets a printing pulp duty suitable for the paper to perform printing and apply appropriate printing energy to improve the print quality. In addition to preventing deterioration, the print judgment means can detect the leading edge and paper edge of the pomp sheet by selecting the 8-heat 2〇HP sheet and the transfer type 〇HP sheet, and has different control from the paper measuring means for thermal paper and plain paper. By doing so, it is possible to print on transparent sheets, which could not be printed with conventional printing devices that use reflective photo sensors for paper detection.

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

Figure 1 (&L) (b) is a diagram showing the configuration of an OHP sheet, and the figure (?L) is an OHP sheet with a white area 1 for leading edge detection and a white area 2 for end detection, and 3 is a diagram showing the structure of an OHP sheet. 3(b) is an OHP sheet that does not have the white part 1 for leading edge detection and the white part 2 for end detection, and 3 is the transparent part on which printing is performed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a printing device in one embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a cassette presence detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a film ink ribbon cassette, which will be described later; 6 is a paper presence detection means for checking the presence or absence of printing paper; 6 is a paper selection means for selecting and setting the type of printing paper; 7 is a cassette presence detection means The outputs of the means 4, the paper presence/absence detection means 5, and the paper selection means 6 are inputted, respectively, and it is a printing determination means for determining whether printing is possible. Reference numeral 8 indicates a print duty storage means for storing an appropriate print pulse duty according to the type of paper in response to the input of the output of the paper selection means 6, and 9 indicates the output of the print determination means 9 and the print duty. A print drive section 10 controls printing based on the output of the storage means 8, and 10 is a part of an alarm buzzer that sounds a buzzer to notify the print determination means 9 that printing is impossible.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing essential parts of the cassette presence/absence detection means 4, print drive section 9, and paper presence/absence detection section 6 shown in FIG. 11 is a film ink ribbon 12 for printing.
a carriage, 1, on which a film and ink ribbon cassette 11 containing a film and ink ribbon cassette 11 is mounted in the direction of the arrow;
4 is a pulley of a paper feed morph (not shown), which rotates a platen 17 via a timing belt 16 and a platen pulley 16 to carry out paper feed 9. 18 is printing paper wound around the platen 17, plain paper, thermal paper,
Either a transfer type HP sheet or a heat sensitive type HP sheet.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a thermal head having a heating resistor, which is mounted on the carriage 13 and reciprocates left and right in parallel with the platen 1γ. Here, printing paper 1B is plain paper, transfer type 〇H
For P sheet, film ink ribbon cassette 11
The thermal head 1 through the film ink ribbon 12 of
Print by pressing 9. When the printing paper 18 is a thermal paper or a thermal HP sheet, printing is performed by directly pressing the thermal head 19 without using the film ink ribbon 12. 2o has a reed printing paper 18 at the bottom of the platen 17.
It is a reflective photosensor that detects whether or not the sheet is wound around the platen 17. Components 1 and 21 of the sheet presence/absence detection means 5 are microswitches disposed inside the carriage 13 and actuator actuators. The tip 21& protrudes above the surface of the carriage 13 and detects whether or not the film and ink ribbon cassette 11 is mounted on the carriage 13.

FIG. 4 is a more specific circuit configuration diagram of the printer shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 4, parts given the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 2 and 3 are the same components as in FIGS. 2 and 3. The cassette presence/absence detecting means 4 turns on the microswitch 21 and outputs a low level signal (hereinafter referred to as "low signal") when there is a cassette, and when there is no cassette, turns off the microswitch 21 and outputs a high level signal (hereinafter referred to as "H signal"). The inverter 22 outputs it as positive logic. 23 is a changeover switch of the paper selection means 6, and switching to contact ``S'' will select plain paper, switching to contact ``C'' will select thermal paper, switching to ``contact d'' will select Transfer 2〇 HP sheet, and switching to contact ``e'' will select thermal paper. 2〇HP sheet is selected and an L signal is outputted respectively, and 24+, 25+, 26 and 27 are inverters which output the signal of the changeover switch 23 as positive logic. 28 is a switch for selecting whether or not white parts 1 and 2 are provided for detecting the leading edge and trailing edge of the OHP sheet shown in FIG. If there is none, the switch 28 is turned off and an H signal is output. 29 is an AND circuit which receives the outputs of the inverter 22 of the cassette detection means 4 and the inverter 24 of the paper selection means 6. When plain paper is selected, it determines whether a cassette is installed and outputs both outputs. A high level signal (hereinafter referred to as an H signal) is output only when the signal is a high level signal.

30 is an AND circuit that receives as input the output of the inverter 33 which has negative logic as the output of the inverter 26 of the paper selection means 6 and the output of the impark 22 of the cassette presence detection means 4, and when thermal paper is selected, a cassette is installed. It is determined whether or not the signal is being output, and an H signal is output only when both output signals are H signals. 31 is an AND circuit which receives the output of the inverter 26 of the paper selection means 6 and the output of the inverter 22 of the cassette presence/absence detection means 4, and determines whether a cassette is loaded when the transfer 2〇HP sheet is selected. However, it outputs an H signal only when the credit unions of both outputs are H signals. , 32 is the output of the impark 27 of the paper selection means 6;
An AND circuit whose input is the output of the inverter 34 with the output of the inverter 22 of the cassette presence/absence detecting means 4 as a negative logic, determines whether or not a cassette is mounted when the heat-sensitive 2〇HP sheet is selected, and determines whether or not a cassette is mounted. It outputs an H signal only when the output signal is an H signal. 35 is paper detection means 5
The light emitting diode 36 of the reflective photosensor 2o is a phototransistor, and the light from the light emitting diode 36 is reflected on the paper 18, making the phototransistor 36 conductive, and outputting an H signal from a low level signal (L signal). . Reference numeral 37 denotes an AND circuit which receives the output of the AND circuit 29 and the output of the reflective photosensor 2Q, and determines whether there is paper or not, and outputs an H signal to the print drive unit only when both signals are H signals. 38 is an AND circuit manually operated by the output of the AND circuit 30 and the output of the reflective photosensor 20, and determines whether there is paper or not, and outputs an H signal to the print drive section only when both signals are H signals. 42 is a D-flip-flop which inputs the output of the reflective photosensor 20;
When using an OHP sheet having a white portion for detecting the leading edge and the trailing edge, the output shown in (2L) in FIG. 6 is obtained.

Reference numeral 41 denotes an OR circuit which inputs the signal of the switch 28 for selecting whether or not to have a white portion for detecting the leading and trailing ends of the paper selection means 6 and the output of the D-flip-flop 42;
When the HP sheet has a white part for leading edge and trailing edge detection, turn on the switch 28 and select D- as shown in FIG. 5(b).
The output from the flip-flop 42 is output as is.

Further, when there is no white portion for detecting the leading edge and trailing edge of the OHP sheet, the switch 28 is turned off and an H signal is output, thereby invalidating the signal from the paper presence/absence detecting means and always outputting an H signal. 39 is the output of the AND circuit 3o and the OHP
The output of an AND circuit 41 that controls the output from the reflective photosensor of the paper presence/absence detection means 5 is input depending on whether the sheet has a white part for detecting the leading edge and the paper edge, and the output is H only when both signals are H signals. A signal is output to the print drive unit 9. 4o receives the output of the AND circuit 32 and the output of the AND circuit 41, and outputs an H signal to the print drive section 9 only when both signals are H signals. 43 is AND circuit 37°38.39
and 4o as inputs, and when all the inputs are L signals, a signal is output to the alarm buzzer part 10. Furthermore, the impark 24y 26 of the paper selection means 6
The outputs of y 26 and 2 are respectively input to the print duty storage means 8, set to a print duty suitable for plain paper, thermal paper, transfer type OHP sheet and thermal type 〇HP sheet, and output to the print drive unit 9. do.

The operation of the printing apparatus of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained below. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control procedure of the same embodiment.
Use the changeover switch to determine whether the paper set in advance is thermal paper or not, and if it is thermal paper, proceed to step 1).

The stepper) loads the film ink ribbon cassette 11 in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. By not loading the Finonmuink ribbon cassette 11, the microswitch is turned off,
Detects that there is no film ink ribbon cassette.

If there is no film ink cartridge, proceed to step Q). In step ψ), paper is detected by the H signal of the reflective photosensor 20 of the paper presence/absence detecting means 5, and if there is paper, the process moves to step). In step ), a print pulse duty suitable for thermal paper is set in the print duty storage means 8, and the process moves to step ψ). Next, in step ψ), the print drive section 9 prints, and the process returns to step ψ).

Also, if you have a film ink ribbon cassette at step ←), move on to step ←). In step ←), a part of the warning buzzer sounds a buzzer to warn of an error due to incorrect loading.

Furthermore, if there is no paper in step ψ), the printer is stopped as it is out of paper.

Next, when Stellar Pre (Stella Play) determines that it is not thermal paper, it determines whether it is plain paper in step (A), and if it is plain paper, it detects the soil ink ribbon cassette in step (C). Move to step (k).

In step (c), if there is a film ink ribbon cassette, the paper presence/absence detecting means 5 detects the presence or absence of paper in the same manner as in step ←), and if there is paper, the process moves to step 0). Step (b) is to set a print pulse duty suitable for plain paper in the print duty storage means and take 7 steps ('
)). Step (-/') is printed by the printing drive unit 9 and returns to (in the middle of Stellar). Also, if there is no film ink ribbon cassette in step (g), proceed to step ←). Step (b) is a part of the alarm buzzer that sounds a buzzer indicating that reloading is required to warn of an error.

Furthermore, if there is no paper in step (c), it is assumed that the paper is out and the printer is stopped. Next, if step (A) determines that it is not plain paper, step (T) will print the thermal paper.
Determine whether it is a P sheet, and if it is a thermal oHP sheet, move to step (?,). Similarly to step 0), the cassette presence/absence detecting means 4 detects a film ink ribbon cassette, and if there is no film ink ribbon cassette, the process moves to step 0). In step (E)), the output signal of the reflective photosensor 20 is controlled by the signal of the paper selection switch 28, which is set in advance to determine the presence or absence of the white part for detecting the leading edge and the trailing edge shown in FIG. If there is a part, move to step (n). The step (n) is performed by a reflective photosensor 20 as shown in FIG. 1 (2).
Detect the leading edge of the OHP sheet (L) and move to Stellar Play). In step ρ), a printing pulse duty suitable for the thermal type HP sheet is set in the printing duty storage means 8, and printing is performed in step (g). Next, step (n) is to use the reflective photosensor 2o as shown in FIG. 6(a).
1 (Detects the end of the P sheet and stops the printer as it is out of paper. Also, if there is a film and ink ribbon cassette in step (, t,), move to step (b).

In step ←), a part of the warning buzzer sounds a buzzer to warn of an error due to incorrect loading. Furthermore, in the case of an OHP sheet that does not have a white part for detecting the leading edge and the trailing edge in a step (step), move to the step (→). Step (g) is to set the printing puffless duty suitable for the thermal type HP sheet using the printing duty storage means 8, and perform printing in step (g).Next, in step (n), the thermal type OHP sheet is printed. If it is determined that it is not a transfer type HP sheet,
If it is determined that it is a transfer type HP sheet, the process moves to step). Step ) detects the film ink ribbon cassette in the same way as step ), and if there is a film ink ribbon cassette, moves to Stellar Pre). Similar to step (e)), in the step (e)), the presence or absence of a white portion for detecting the leading edge is determined by the preset switch 28 of the paper selection means 6, and if there is a white portion, the process moves to the step (e). In step (G), the reflective sensor 20 of the paper presence/absence detecting means 6 detects the leading edge of the sheet in the same manner as in step (G), and if detected, the process moves to step (1). Step (1) is to set the printing parnu duty suitable for the transfer type OHP sheet and move on to step (c). In step (c), printing is performed by the print drive unit 9, and in step (h), the end is detected as in step (n), and the printer is stopped as there is no sheet. If there is no film ink ribbon cassette in step ), move on to step ←). In step ←), a part of the warning buzzer sounds a buzzer indicating that loading is required to warn of an error. Furthermore, in the case of an OHP sheet that does not have a white part to detect the leading edge and the trailing edge in step 0, in step ()), the reflective sensor 2 is used as in step (g).
Disable the Q output signal and transfer the step (to) HP
Set the printing parnu duty suitable for the sheet and print in step (E).

According to the embodiment, it is possible to distinguish between thermal paper, plain paper, thermal OHP sheet, and transfer type HP sheet, and to apply appropriate printing energy, improve print quality, and produce transparent thermal type HP sheet. It can also be printed on transfer type HP sheets.

As described above, the present invention improves printing quality by distinguishing between thermal paper, plain paper, thermal OHP sheet, and transfer type HP sheet, and applying appropriate printing energy to the head. In addition to reducing this load and extending the life of the head, in the case of thermal type HP sheets and transfer type OHP sheets, paper detection is controlled differently from thermal paper and plain paper. By making it possible to print on transparent sheets (OHP sheets) that printers using photosensors could not print on, we have created a printing device that applies appropriate printing energy to print on all types of paper. be.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1(&) and (b) are diagrams showing the IP receipt configuration, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a printing device in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a cassette presence/absence detection means of the same embodiment, FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing main parts of a printing drive section and a sheet heat detection section; FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a more specific configuration of the printing device shown in FIG. 2; FIG. (b) is an output waveform diagram when an OHP sheet having a white portion for detecting the leading edge and the trailing edge is used, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control means of the same embodiment. 1... White part for tip detection, 2... White part for end detection, 3... Transparent part, 4...
Cassette presence/absence detection means, 6...Paper presence/absence detection means, 6...Paper selection means, 7...Printing determination means, 8...Print duty storage means ,9
...Print drive unit, 10...Alarm buzzer m
, 11=...-film ink ribbon cassette, 12...
... Film ink ribbon, 13 ... Carriage, 14 ... Paper feed motor daily, 1
5...Belt, 16...Platen pulley, 17...Platen, 18...Paper, 19...Print head, 2o... ...Reflection m photo sensor, 21...Micro switch, 211L...Protrusion of actuator of micro switch. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and one other person, Figure 1 (a) (b) Figure 2 8 Figure 3 Figure 4 536

Claims (1)

[Claims] a printing paper selection means for selecting the type of printing paper, a cassette detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a film ink ribbon cassette, a paper detection means for detecting the presence or absence of the printing paper, the printing paper selection means, the cassette detection means, A control means for changing the duty of a printing pulse applied to a heating resistor element for printing on the printing paper based on the output of the paper detection means, and a printing means for performing printing based on the control means. A printing device characterized by: