JPS6163473A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to allow an operator to be capable of knowing the residual amount of a ribbon always clearly, by such a simple mechanism that the residual amount of the ribbon is calculated and displayed by utilizing the signal of operation performed while ribbon operation is controlled. CONSTITUTION:The bus and signal wire connecting a main body control branched on the way of them to be connected to CPU(central processing unit) 4 and the number of steps sending a ribbon is counted from an inputted exciting magnetic phase change-over signal and the number of printable characters is calculated. When a ribbon cartridge 5a to be used is set to a cartridge stand 5c, the discrimination code signal of the ribbon cartridge is inputted to CPU4 from the discrimination code detection part 5d thereof and the ribbon residual amount of the cartridge stored on the basis of said signal is displayed on a display apparatus 8 as the number of printable characters. Subsequently, from the residual amount of the ribbon, it is judged whether the ribbon can be used succeedingly and, when the succeeding use of the ribbon is possible, the signal showing this state is sent to the main body control circuit 1 to perform printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 1. Back of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact type printer using a ribbon, and more particularly to a printer using a cartridge type ribbon.

1υ1 Support 1 Conventionally, in printers that use ribbons, a method has been adopted in which a transparent part or a reflective part made of aluminum or the like is provided at the end of the ribbon, and the end is detected by a sensor by transmitting or reflecting light through this part. There is. However, in these sensor-based methods, the structure becomes complicated, as a hole must be formed in the ribbon cartridge to accommodate the sensor.

The sensor itself has disadvantages such as deterioration due to changes over time.

The present invention has been made in consideration of one or more points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that can always easily and clearly know the remaining amount of ribbon.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an impact printer that prints via a ribbon, including a drive means for sending the ribbon to a printing section, and an operation for sending an operation signal to the drive means to send the ribbon. a drive control means for controlling the operation; a feed amount detection means for detecting the ribbon feed amount from the operation signal; The present invention is characterized by comprising a calculation means for calculating the printable amount thereafter, and a display means for displaying the printable amount.

A detailed description will be given below based on one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an impact printer using a ribbon cartridge as an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a main body control circuit that controls the overall drive in the printer of this example.1 In addition to the ribbon drive system circuit shown in the figure, there are other circuits that drive the printing hammer and its carriage (not shown). A ribbon feed driver circuit 2 is connected to the main body control circuit 1 to which various circuits such as the system and character selection system are connected via a bus and a signal line for sending the main output. It is connected to a pulse motor 3 for use. In this case, the main output signal and four types of signals for switching the excitation phase of the motor as shown in FIG. 2 are sent from the main body control circuit 1 to the pulse motor 3 via the driver circuit 2 to provide high precision A ribbon feeding operation is performed. That is, in FIG. 2, there are four types of excitation phase switching signals RF-A.

RF-B, RF-A, and RF-color have the same waveform and are out of phase by 174 in this order. Therefore, the signals RF-A and RF-A and RF-B and RF-color are on and off, respectively. It's the exact opposite. Here, the main output RF-DRV is turned on, and four types of excitation phase switching signals RF-A, RF-B, RF
- Human, RF - From a state where two of the white internal probes are turned on and the corresponding two phases are excited, one of them remains excited and the excitation of the remaining one phase is turned off, and , one of the two phases that had not been excited until now is excited, the pulse motor 3 rotates by a predetermined angle corresponding to one step, and the ribbon is fed one pitch.

Buses and signal lines connecting the main body control circuit 1 and the ribbon feed driver circuit 2 are branched in the middle and connected to a CPU (central processing unit) 4, and the ribbon is controlled by input excitation phase switching signals, etc. In addition to counting the number of steps sent, it also calculates whether characters can be printed on the rear cylinder. Also, C
A ribbon cartridge identification device 5 is connected to the PU 4, and the remaining amount of each ribbon cartridge is stored in the memory of the CPU 4 based on the identification signal inputted from the device 5. As a specific example of the ribbon cartridge identification device 5, for example, as shown in FIG.
A code portion 5b consisting of a plurality of holes representing a unique identification code is formed in a part of the ribbon cartridge stand 5.
Correspondingly, an identification code detection section 5d for detecting a cartridge identification code is provided in c, and at the same time as the cartridge 5a is mounted on the cartridge stand 5c, a cartridge identification signal is generated, and based on this signal, the remaining amount of ribbon for each cartridge is detected. It is sufficient to have a configuration that stores .

Furthermore, in this example, since the memory in the CPUJ is volatile, a backup battery 6 is connected to prevent the contents of the memory from being lost after the power to the main body is stopped. Therefore, even if you stop the main unit in the middle of printing or print while replacing multiple cartridges with different types of ribbon, the remaining amount for each type of ribbon is memorized in memory and future printing is possible. The number of characters can be calculated. Note that 7 is a clock generator.

This drives the CPU 4. In addition, the CPU 4 is also connected to the main body control circuit 1 by a signal line.
Based on the ribbon remaining amount calculation result, it is determined whether or not the ribbon can be continued to be used, and a signal thereof is sent to the main body control circuit 1.

The CPU 4 is connected to a display device 8 that displays the printable amount calculated from the remaining ribbon amount. The display device 8 of this example includes six 7-segment displays 8a and six decoders 8b.
Consisting of 6 sets of display sections each connected by a 7-bit bus,
Each display unit connects to the CP via an 8-bit bus in parallel with each other.
Connected to U4. Therefore, the maximum is 999,999
The number of characters can be displayed.

Next, the ribbon remaining amount display operation of the printer configured as described above will be explained based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when the ribbon cartridge 5a to be used is set on the cartridge stand 5G, the identification code signal of the ribbon cut ridge is inputted from the identification code detection section 5d to the CPU 4, and based on this, the stored amount of ribbon remaining in the cartridge is printed. The number of possible characters is displayed on the display device 8. Next, it is determined whether the ribbon can be used continuously based on the remaining amount of ribbon.

If the ribbon can be used continuously (YES direction).

A signal to that effect is sent to the main body control circuit 1, and printing is performed. That is, an excitation phase switching signal and the like are sent from the main body control circuit 1 to the driver circuit 2, the pulse motor 3 is rotated in steps at a predetermined speed, and the ribbon is sent to the printing section one pitch feed at a time. and.

At the same time, the same signal is also sent to the CPU 4, and the CPU 4 counts how many steps the ribbon has been fed from now on, and calculates and displays whether cylinder characters can be printed from now on.

In this case, for example, if the printing operation is set to feed the ribbon 4 steps to print one character,
The display should be reduced by one character every four steps.

On the other hand, if the ribbon cannot be used continuously (N.

direction), a ribbon end display is displayed or an alarm is generated to inform the operator of this fact, and the ribbon is replaced. When replacing the ribbon, the memory that stores the remaining amount of the old ribbon that has been replaced is cleared and the total amount of ribbon in the new cartridge is input. After this, the process returns to the original ribbon cartridge identification process to identify the newly installed cartridge, and the same operation is repeated thereafter.

In the above embodiment, when the ribbon cartridge is replaced and the ribbon feeding speed is changed accordingly, the cartridge identification device 5 is also connected to the main body control circuit 1 in FIG. 1 to send the cartridge identification signal. sending,
The configuration may be such that the excitation phase switching signal is appropriately changed in accordance with this signal, and the pulse motor 3 is rotated in steps at a speed corresponding to the type of ribbon. In this case, instead of automatically identifying the type of ribbon, the operator may manually input the type of ribbon to the main body control circuit 1 and CPU 4 using, for example, a dip switch or a rotary switch. Furthermore, the present invention is applicable not only to printers using a one-time type ink ribbon, in which the ribbon is replaced only once by sending it to the printing section, but also to printers using an endless type ink ribbon, which is used several times. In this case, the number of printable characters corresponding to the number of cycles of usable ribbon may be input as the total character amount (total ribbon amount).

Effects As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the amount of remaining ribbon is calculated and displayed using the operation signal that causes the ribbon feeding operation to be executed while accurately controlling the f! [! With a simple mechanism, the operator can always clearly know the remaining amount of ribbon. Therefore, a printer convenient for ribbon replacement management can be obtained at low cost. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention. For example, the present invention is effective not only for printing ribbons but also for correction ribbons.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a ribbon remaining amount display system of an impact type printer as an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing ribbon feed operation signals, and FIGS. 3a and 3b. The diagram shows each ribbon cartridge 5.
A and a perspective view and a plan view showing the cartridge stand 5G, 4th
The figure is a flow chart diagram showing the operation of one embodiment of the present invention. (Explanation of symbols) Main body control circuit 2: Ribbon feed driver circuit 3: Ribbon feed pulse motor 4: CPU (Central Processing Unit) 8: Display device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an impact printer that prints via a ribbon, a drive means for sending the ribbon to a printing section, and a drive control means for sending an operation signal to the drive means and controlling and controlling the operation of feeding the ribbon. and a feeding amount detection means for detecting the amount of ribbon feeding from the operation signal, and calculating the printable amount thereafter based on the detection signal from the feeding amount detection means and the stored remaining amount value of the unused ribbon. A printer comprising a calculation means and a display means for displaying the printable amount. 2. In the above item 1, the printer is configured such that the ribbon can be replaced during use, and has ribbon identification means for identifying the ribbon connected to the calculation means, and the ribbon identification signal of the identification means is A printer characterized in that the printable amount is calculated for each ribbon accordingly.