JPS6213377A - Leading-out method for ink ribbon end part in color terminal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable leading-out of the end of an ink ribbon to be accurately by, setting a number of shifts in feeding a carrier while allowing for a slip quantity when feeding by an amount equivalent to the spacing between a sensor and a thermal head. CONSTITUTION:An ink ribbon 13 is passed through a passage between the thermal head 12 and a ribbon sensor 15 which are provided on the carrier 7. Printing by the thermal head 12 is started at the position of a marker A, the ink ribbon 13 is taken up in the direction of the arrow as the carrier 7 is moved, and a marker B indicating the start of the next color part is detected by the ribbon sensor 15. The ink ribbon length from the position of the head 12 to the position of the sensor 15 is L2. Under condition (iii) where the next marker B is detected by the sensor 15, the length L1 by which the ribbon has been fed from condition (i) to condition (iii) is calculated, is added to L2 which is a fixed value, and the sum is subtracted from the distance between the marker A and the marker B (which distance is a fixed value), whereby the slip quantity is obtained. Then, the slip quantity in printing in the residual one line is estimated, and is added to L2, thereby setting a residual number of carrier steps.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type color printer that uses an ink ribbon, and is capable of accurate cueing even if the ink ribbon slips during feeding and causes feeding errors. This invention relates to an ink ribbon cueing method for a color printer that can perform the following steps.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, ink ribbons used in this type of color printer are arranged alternately in three colors, yellow, magenta, and cyan, each with a length of one line, and a black color is attached to the tip of each color. It is constructed by forming a marker. The ink ribbon is fed by loading a thermal head mounted on a carrier, pressing the ink ribbon against the recording medium, and feeding the carrier while preventing relative movement between the recording medium and the ink ribbon. Therefore, it is moved relative to the thermal head.

The color used for printing changes with each line feed, but if the marker is detected by a detector and there is a positional shift, the number of carrier feed steps is increased or decreased to locate the beginning of the marker. There is.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention When the ink ribbon has been indexed, the marker is at the position of the thermal head, and one line of printing is started using this as the starting point. Therefore, when cueing, since there is a certain distance between the thermal head and the detector, it is not possible to position the marker directly at the position of the thermal head. After detection, the ink ribbon is moved by the distance between the detector and the thermal head to position the marker at the thermal head.

However, as mentioned above, the ink ribbon is fed so that it does not move relative to the recording medium when the head is loaded, so if slippage occurs between the ink ribbon and the recording medium, the amount of feed will fluctuate. be.

Therefore, in the conventional method of detecting a marker with a detector and then moving the marker by the distance between the detector and the thermal head to cue, errors due to slippage occur during this time, making it difficult to accurately cue. It cannot be done.

Furthermore, in the case of an ink ribbon consisting of three colors, the printing colors are controlled, for example, with yellow at the beginning, and the frequency of blank feeding is quite high during the printing process. Although it is necessary to feed the carrier in this case of idle feeding, since the speed of the carrier feeding is the printing speed, it is impossible to feed the carrier at a higher speed.

Means for Solving the Problems A carrier holding a thermal head is provided with a detector for detecting markers on an ink ribbon, and the carrier is moved from a printing start position to a position where the marker is detected by the detector when printing one line. The amount of slippage of the ink ribbon is calculated based on the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon, and the amount of slippage that will occur during that time is determined by the number of shifts required for feeding the carrier in order for the marker to move from the detection position of the marker to the position of the thermal head. The number of shifts corresponding to the amount is added to perform cueing.

Also, when winding up ink ribbon that does not require printing,
Winding is performed at the fastest feed speed.

If the ink ribbon is being fed with slippage, the number of carrier feed shifts is set in anticipation of the amount of slippage when feeding the distance between the detector and the thermal head. In addition, when an ink ribbon that does not require printing is wound up, it is wound up at the fastest feed speed, making high-speed printing possible.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

First, a platen 4 in the shape of a drum 11 for winding and holding a sheet 3 between opposing side plates 2 of a frame 1 is provided across the frame. A guide shaft S in the form of a round bar and a guide plate 6 in the form of a plate are attached parallel to the platen 4, and a carrier 7 supported by the guide shaft 5 and the guide plate 6 is provided. There is. Further, a belt 9 wound around the carrier motor 8 is attached to two belts attached to both ends of the frame 1.
A part of the belt 9 is fixed to the carrier 7.

A thermal head 12 that moves forward and backward toward the platen 4 by means of a solenoid 11 is attached to the carrier 7, and a ribbon cassette 14 in which a transfer ribbon 13 is wound and stored is detachably mounted thereon. Further, on the upper surface of the carrier 7, a ribbon sensor 15 is provided as a detector for detecting the end of the transfer ribbon 13. Further, the operation panel 16 provided on the front side of the frame 1 includes:
Keys 18 including a print continuation key 17 and a ribbon end lamp 19 are attached. On the other hand, a Bauhm position switch 20 is attached to the end of the guide plate 6.

Here, in this embodiment, the transfer ribbon 13 is wound up in accordance with the movement of the carrier 7 without using a dedicated motor, and the structure around the carrier 7 including the structure thereof is Explain. First, the thermal head 12 is placed approximately at the center of the carrier 7 on the surface facing printing. This thermal head 12 has a head holder 2 which is rotatable around a support shaft 21 attached to a carrier 7.
Supported by 2. Further, behind the thermal head 12, the solenoid 11 is attached to the carrier 7 via a solenoid attachment plate 23.

A spring 24 provided between the solenoid mounting plate 23 and the head holder 22 urges the thermal head 12 in a direction away from the platen 4 side. Therefore, by energizing the solenoid 11 and pushing the back surface of the head holder 22, the thermal head 12 is moved to the platen 4.
will come into contact with. Further, paper press plates 25 are attached to both sides of the thermal head 12. Furthermore, a PC board 26 is attached to the lower surface of the rear side of the carrier 7 to be electrically connected to the thermal head 12, ribbon sensor 15, and the like. 27 is a roller that rolls on the guide plate 6. The carrier 7 has three locking parts 28a, 28b, 28.
c is formed. The locking parts 28a, 28b are located on the left and right sides of the print facing surface with the thermal head 12 at the center, and the locking part 28c is formed at the end of the carrier 7 behind the thermal head 12, and the three locking parts 28a, 28b, The lines connecting the points 28c are set to form a substantially equilateral triangle. or,
The ribbon cassette 14, which has a hole 29a positioned by a guide boss 29 formed on the carrier 7, is formed by integrating a case 30 containing the transfer ribbon 13 and a cover 31, and the cover 31 has the locking portion 28a, 28b,
These locking portions 28a, 28 correspond to the position of 28c.
Elastic hooks 32a and 32 that elastically engage and disengage from b and 28c
b, 32c are formed. The case 3o is provided with a pulley 33 and a take-up boot 1J34, and the transfer ribbon 13 is stretched between these pulleys 33 and 34 through a relief part 35 for the thermal head 12. 36 is a relief part for the ribbon sensor 15.

On the other hand, a hole 37 is formed in the carrier 7 corresponding to the position of the take-up pulley 34, and a take-up shaft 38 for driving the take-up pulley 34 passes through the hole 37. A take-up gear 39 is fixed to the take-up shaft 38 on the lower surface side of the carrier 7. or.

A lever 41, a gear 42, and a pulley 43, which are rotatable around a guide and pin 40, are attached to the side of the take-up gear 39. The gear 42 and the pulley 43 are integrated, and a part of the wire 44 stretched between the side plates 2 is wound around the pulley 43. Therefore.

The pulley 43 and gear 42 are driven to rotate as the carrier 7 travels. Also, the lever 41 has a gear 42.
A planetary gear 45 is rotatably mounted, which is always in mesh with the winding gear 39 and is located rearward of the winding gear 39 and engages with and disengages from the winding gear 39.

Here, the tip of the lever 41 extends to the head holder 22 side, and a part of the head holder 22 has the lever 41
A regulating portion 46 that approaches and separates is formed at the tip. In other words,
As shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, when the thermal head 12 is not pushed by the solenoid 11 (not in contact with the platen 4), the regulating portion 46 contacts the tip of the lever 41 to prevent its rotation. The planetary gear 45 is positioned at a position where it does not mesh with the winding gear 39. On the other hand, solenoid 11
When the thermal head 12 is in contact with the platen 4 due to energization, the regulating portion 46 moves forward and the lever 41 becomes free, so as the gear 42 rotates, the planetary gear 45 is displaced and meshes with the take-up gear 39. The rotation of the gear 42 is transmitted to the take-up gear 39 (dotted chain line in FIG. 2). Therefore, the state in which the thermal head 12 is in contact with the platen 4,
That is, only when the carrier 7 travels from left to right during head loading, the rotation of the gear 42 is transmitted to the take-up gear 39 via the planetary gear 45, and the take-up shaft 38 rotates. The transfer ribbon 13 is wound up without using a dedicated motor.

In other words, it is possible to solve the problem of ribbon winding using a dedicated motor. Note that a state in which the thermal head 12 is not urged in the direction of contacting the platen 4 is a head-off state.

Here, in this embodiment, a black ribbon and a color ribbon can be selectively used as the transfer ribbon 13, and in order to distinguish the ribbons, the shape of the ribbon cassette is different for the black ribbon and the color ribbon, and the color ribbon cassette is A color ribbon detection switch 48 is provided on the PC board 26 and is turned on by an actuator 47 that is moved downward only when the color ribbon is set.

According to such a configuration, when the ribbon cassette 14 is in the set state, the elastic hooks 32a to 32C are respectively locked to the locking portions 28a to 28c, and the locking positions are two points on the left and right sides of the thermal head 12 and a rear point. Since it is a point and has a substantially equilateral triangular shape, it is not affected by the vibration of the carrier 7 or the suppressing operation of the thermal head 12, and therefore, it can be placed on the carrier 7 in a stable state without wobbling or lifting. Retained. As a result, the winding movement of the transfer ribbon 13 is performed stably, and high quality printing can be obtained. or,
This ribbon cassette 14 is attached and detached using elastic hooks 32a to 3.
Since it is only locked with 2c, the ribbon cassette 14
By removing or installing from above,
It can be done with one touch, and cassette replacement is easy.

Next, the internal circuit will be explained based on FIG.

First, a ROM 51 and a RAM 52 are connected to a CPU 50 which is an 8-bit one-chip microcomputer. Control data is managed by ROM51,
Printer data is managed by RAM 52. CPU
The input of 50 is the interface 5 to the host.
In addition to 3, line") EID (LF) key 54, ON
LINEX switch 55, vapor end sensor 56
, ribbon sensor 15. A color ribbon switch 48 and the like are connected. On the other hand, as an output, a carrier motor 8 is connected via a carrier motor driver 57, and a feed motor 59 is connected via a feed motor driver 58.
are connected, the solenoid 11 is connected through a solenoid driver 60, and the thermal head 12 is connected through a thermal head driver 61. here,
To explain the outline of the control, editing is processed by the main system, and carrier system control is performed by the timer interrupt system. The printing system is also handled by the timer interrupt system.

In this way, both the carrier system and the print system are interrupt-based processes (time-sharing system), but their execution can be considered as if three CPUs were running simultaneously in parallel. In the main system, when the printer conditions are met, a carrier system interrupt is established for the carrier system as described later. The carrier system starts operating, and when the slow-up ends, an interrupt for the printing system is opened.

Next, the relationship between the thermal head 12 and the carrier 7 during printing operation will be explained. First, the relationship between the dots for printing characters and the step for driving the carrier 7 will be explained, although the control thereof is complicated since there are differences between the steps for printing the characters and the steps for driving the carrier 7.

In this embodiment, one character has a width of 15 dots, and one character is 1/10 inch in pitch printing. Therefore, every time 15 dots are printed, carrier 7 is 1/10
Need to move an inch. Now, the carrier motor 8 is a stepping motor, and one step rotation moves the carrier 7.
is assumed to move 1/30 inch.

Therefore, the number of steps for one character is (1/10) ÷ (1
/30), that is, 3 steps. or.

It is assumed that the printing time for one dot is 1000 μs.

Therefore, the shift time for one step of the carrier motor 8 is the printing time for one character (1000 μs x 15 =
15 ms) divided by the number of steps for one character, 3, which is 15÷3=5 ms.

Further, the number of dots printed in one step of the carrier motor 8 is 15/3=5 dots. Therefore, Fig. 8(a)
The relationship between the position of the carrier 7 and the printing timing is shown based on the following. First, set the home position using carrier 7.
It is determined that the carrier motor 8 has rotated two steps from the position where it interferes with the home position switch 20.

It takes a certain amount of time for the carrier 7 to reach a constant speed from a standstill, and also a certain amount of time to go from a constant speed to a standstill, so the beginning and end of the entire possible range are Slow-up portion = 3 characters (9 steps)
This forms an area where the amount of slowdown is 1 character (3 steps). The printable area is set to, for example, 80 characters. This is 1200 when converted to dots.
(80×15) dots, and when converted to the number of steps of the carrier motor 8, it is 240 (80×3) steps. Even if there is a difference between the number of dots and the number of steps as described above, the number of dots can basically be controlled by setting the number of dots to 0 at a position three characters (9 steps) from the home position.

Next, the color ink ribbon will be explained.

One of the features of this embodiment is that the ribbon is wound by using the movement of the carrier 7 without using a dedicated motor. However, in the case of this method, the ribbon winding amount becomes unstable. The reason for this is that the ribbon winding mechanism is made up of planetary gears 45, pulleys 43, wires 44, etc., but when this mechanism starts operating, the thermal head 12 moves the transfer ribbon 13 to the platen 4 side. Since this is after being pressed, there may be a time delay or play in the mechanical mechanism. Furthermore, the slippage of the film varies depending on the film quality of the ink ribbon, especially the type of color paint in the case of color, making the amount of ribbon winding unstable. Such instability is not significant in the case of a black ink ribbon since it is a single color. However, in the case of color, there is a problem. This basically consists of three color ink ribbons, yellow, magenta, and cyan, arranged alternately for one line each, but if the winding amount becomes unstable, This is because color misalignment printing occurs in which parts of different colors are printed. In other words, the ribbon length for each color is (print area approximately 8 inches) + (carrier throw-up) + (carrier slow-down), and if the ribbon is wound accurately, color shift will not occur. If there is not enough winding, the beginning of the next color will be printed in the previous color, and if there is too much winding, the last part of the line will be printed in the next color. This is because you will have to put it away.

As one measure against such instability in the amount of ribbon winding, the length of each color of the color ink ribbon 13c is set as shown in FIG. Regarding the approach/separation (ON/OFF) of the thermal head 12 and the movement of the carrier 7, the head O
It is assumed that head 0FF (head off) is performed after carrying out N (head load) and the carrier 7 has stopped. However, in special cases, the head may be turned off while the carrier 7 is moving. In any case, it is assumed that the amount of ribbon winding is the same as the amount of movement of the carrier 7 when the head is turned on. First, three colors, yellow, magenta, and cyan, are used, and a black band marker is provided at the beginning of each color to separate them. The length of this marker is set in two ways, the length of the black belt at the beginning of yellow is dy#8an.

Length of black belt at the beginning of magenta or cyan dM = dc press 5
■ is set. This allows one cycle of yellow, magenta, and cyan to be detected, which can be used for ribbon cueing, which will be described later. Here, setting dM=dc″r51m is the minimum value for ribbon production, and by making it as short as possible, the collar can be made longer.Also, dY valve 81111 is set as dH or This is because a difference of at least 3 m is required to distinguish from DC.Also, the length of each color band of yellow, magenta, and cyan is set to be longer than the actual printed length (80 characters = 8 inch press 203.2 m5). This is to complete the correction of the error during one line printing operation if an error occurs in the amount of ribbon winding.Specifically, the yellow section length Dy = 22
0.27+m, magenta and cyan division length DM =D
a = 216.89 m. As a result, as mentioned above, the slow-up when the carrier 7 is started is 9 steps.
．． 62m), slow down in 3 steps (42, 54m)
), the printable area for one line is 8 inches 203.21 inches, and the carrier 7 can mechanically move 223.52 inches.

The carrier 7 can move within the range of (slow up) + (print area) + (slow down) from 213.36 m to 223°52 mm. Therefore, in the yellow category, there is a margin of approximately 3.251 m5 for insufficient ribbon winding, and approximately 6.91 m5 for excessive ribbon winding.
You will have a leeway. In addition, in the magenta and cyan categories, approximately 6.630
It has a margin of 111 and about 3 to prevent excessive ribbon winding.
．． This will give you 53m of leeway. In other words, yellow,
The margins are set to be equal for cyan and magenta. FIGS. 8(b) to 8(c) show the movement of the carrier 7 for each color assuming that the color ink ribbon 13c is correctly wound.

In addition, in FIG. 7, the lower part is the color ribbon 13c.
The length of the black belt part with d1 = 2.54 mm and the length of the other transparent part is d2 = 5.08 mm, and the length of the black band part with d1 = 2.54 mm and the length of the other transparent part are provided in stripes alternately over DH = 2001111. 15
is configured to be detected. Furthermore, this ribbon end portion has the same configuration even for black ink ribbons.

On the other hand, an outline of improvement means for making the ribbon winding amount constant will be explained from the other side. First, ribbon winding is performed only when the head is on, so fine adjustment is performed by adjusting when the head is on.
When an error that cannot be adjusted by such fine adjustment occurs and there is insufficient winding, the insufficient amount of winding is adjusted by moving the carrier 7 with the head ON, separately from the printing operation. Conversely, in the case of excessive winding, printing is interrupted when a black band marker at the beginning of the next color is detected, and the print continuation key is pressed as an error condition. this·
The reason why excessive ribbon winding is treated as an error is that in reality, overwinding rarely occurs, and it only tends to occur when there is a mechanical failure. Therefore, post-processing is performed as an error. However, even if the ribbon is wound too much, it will not be considered an error under the following conditions. In other words, even if the black band marker at the beginning of the next color is detected in the middle of one line due to excessive ribbon winding, the marker has already been detected at that point. If printing in that color on that line is unnecessary and has been completed, no error is detected, and the carrier 7 is stopped at that point and the thermal head 12 is moved away.

Regarding the printing method, in thermal mode and thermal ink transfer mode, the shortest distance access method is used, but in the case of color ink transfer mode, the shortest distance access method is not used, and one line is used to feed the ribbon. The minute carrier 7 is made to run.

However, in color transfer, the length of the black marker placed in each color of the ink ribbon 13 was not checked in order to locate the beginning of yellow before printing started, and the number of shifts of the carrier 7 was set to 14. However, even if you start printing in the same way,
Marker detection is being performed. The ink ribbon 13 in the ribbon cassette 14 passes through the path between the thermal head 12 installed on the carrier 7 and the ribbon sensor 15.

If the ink ribbon 13 does not sag or stretch,
The length between the thermal head 12 and the ribbon sensor 15 can be determined as a fairly stable value. Let this length be L8. As shown in FIG. 9, printing is performed by the thermal head 12 from the position of the marker A, and as the carrier 7 moves, the ink ribbon 13 is wound up in the direction of the arrow.

Next, as the thermal head 12 moves from the left end of one line to the right, marker B, which is the next color change, is detected by the ribbon sensor 15.

The ink ribbon length from the thermal head 12 to the ribbon sensor 15 at this time is L2, but strictly speaking, it refers to the point when the marker changes from black to white, and at this point it is necessary to cue the next color. The amount of winding of the ink ribbon 13, that is, the number of shifts of the carrier 7 is calculated. L even though I knew that the ink ribbon 13 would not be wound up enough and would slip.

The number of shifts of the carrier 7 that is sufficient to wind the length of is determined here. Therefore, the shift number is always a constant value calculated from the constant length L2 from the time when this marker is detected until the cueing is completed.

Next, the print head position correction of the ink ribbon 13 is performed by correcting the number of steps of the carrier motor 8. That is, FIG. 10 shows the timing of marker detection as the ink ribbon 13 moves and the relative position changes between the thermal head 12 and the ribbon sensor 15. (i
) has been cued and is about to start printing. (n) is a process in which printing begins and the ink ribbon 13 is wound up. (fit) indicates the state at the moment when the next marker B passes through the ribbon sensor 15 and changes from a black portion to a transparent portion. At this point, marker A
The number of shifts away from the thermal head 12 is calculated based on the number of steps of the carrier 7.

The distance between marker A and marker B is constant, and the distance L2 between thermal head 12 and ribbon sensor 15 is also constant. Therefore, the actual marker A converted from L2
The distance L1 between the thermal head 12 and the thermal head 12 can also be calculated. Then, the slip amount is obtained by subtracting Lo from the former apparent distance. At this (fit), (n
How much slippage occurs from j) to (v), Ll
and L2, and is added to the original remaining number of steps until the end of one line to prevent insufficient winding or excessive winding.

The specific processing will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 11 to 18. First, Figure 11 shows the main system processing, which starts when the power is turned on, first performs initial settings such as clearing the RAM and clearing each I10 boat, then home position detection processing.
When the carrier 7 is moved to the left and detected by the home position switch 20, the carrier motor 8 is driven two steps to the right to stop the carrier 7.

Then, paper end detection processing and mode determination processing are performed as preprocessing.

First, the mode determination process is to determine whether it is a thermal mode using thermal paper, a black ink transfer mode using a black ink ribbon, or a color ink transfer mode using a color ink ribbon. The process is shown in FIG.

First, it is determined whether the color ribbon switch 48 is ON. As mentioned above, the ribbon cassette for color ink ribbon and the ribbon cassette for black ink ribbon are different types, and when the ribbon cassette is set on the carrier 7, the operating body 47 is activated only in the case of the cassette for color ink ribbon. This is because the color ribbon switch 48 is set to be turned on when the color ribbon switch 48 is lowered. More specifically,
A hole or notch may be formed in the cassette for black ink ribbon at the part corresponding to the operating body 47.8 If this color ribbon switch 48 is ON, it means that a color ink ribbon cassette is set, and color ink transfer is possible. The mode flag is set.

On the other hand, if the color ribbon switch 48 is OFF, either a black ink ribbon cassette is set or thermal paper is used. Therefore, in order to make this determination, a ribbon winding operation of a small predetermined length is performed when the power is turned on, separately from the printing operation, and this winding length is 2.
It is about 5 to 30ffII+. First, solenoid 11
energizes to bring the thermal head 12 into contact with the platen 4.
Set to N state. Then, the carrier motor 8 is stepped to move the carrier 7, and a ribbon winding operation is performed. At this time, information held by the ink ribbon is read using the ribbon sensor 15. In other words, if it is black all the time during winding of about 25 to 30 mm, it is a black ink ribbon.
The black ink transfer mode flag is set. On the other hand, when thermal paper is used, no ribbon is actually present even when the ribbon winding operation is performed, so black is never detected, and in this case, the thermal mode flag is set. In FIG. 17, carrier motor step means moving the carrier motor 8 one step, and WAIT means waiting time until moving the next step, and this time is determined by referring to the table. There is. The mode determination is basically made by the determination of the color ribbon switch 48 and the determination of the ribbon sensor 15 as described above.

Incidentally, in this mode determination operation, even if the color ribbon switch 48 is ON, the ribbon winding operation is performed in the same way. This is basically for ribbon end detection, which will be described later, but it also takes measures against erroneous setting. That is, when the color ribbon switch 48 is ON, it can be determined that the color ink transfer mode is on, but for some reason this switch 48 may turn ON even when the black ink ribbon power set 1~ is set, or the color ink ribbon cassette is the same as the color ink ribbon cassette. There may be cases where a black ink ribbon is attached to a shaped cassette, so
Even if it is determined that the color ink transfer mode is selected, the ribbon winding operation is actually executed to move the ink ribbon to ribbon sensor 1.
If it is black during the reading at 5 and the winding from 25 to 301, a black ink ribbon is used (as shown in Figure 7, it is impossible for a color ink ribbon to be black for 25 to 30+ m). ), the mode is changed and the black ink transfer mode flag is set.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, in this mode determination, in the case of transfer mode, ribbon end determination is also performed. This is because when using an ink ribbon, ribbon ends are unavoidable, and if this ribbon end occurs, printing is impossible.

Ribbon needs to be replaced. In this regard, since it is possible that the ribbon is at the end even when the power is turned on, it is determined whether the ribbon is at the end or not at the time when the power is turned on. This determination is made using the ribbon winding operation described above, and the ribbon sensor 1
This is done by reading in step 5. This ribbon sensor 15 is of a transmissive type, and only the ink ribbon or black belt part is opaque, so light does not pass through it, and the other parts, such as yellow, are also transparent, so it is possible to read and judge the state of the ribbon. will be carried out. First, in the case of a black ink ribbon, if a non-black part is detected even once, it means that it has become a striped part of black and transparent at the end of the ribbon, and it is determined that the ribbon is at the end, and a flag thereof is set. On the other hand, with color ink ribbons, the stripes at the end of the ribbon also have transparent parts, and the collar part is also transparent, so the length of the stripe part is determined. 5 because it is short
If it is within mm, it is determined that the ribbon is at the end and a ribbon end flag is set.

When such a detection operation is completed, the thermal head 12
is OFF [, carrier 7 is returned to the home position.

By the way, the reason why the color ribbon switch 48 is necessary for the mode determination described above will be explained. When looking at a portion of the color ink ribbon 13c, it appears transparent and reacts to the ribbon sensor 15 in the same way as if there were no ink ribbon at all. Therefore, in order to determine whether the color ink transfer mode or the thermal mode is selected, it is necessary to wind up the ribbon for one line (approximately 220 m). This is because the black band marker between the colors can only be detected by winding one line.

However, it is a waste of ribbon to wind up even one line to determine the mode, and it seems that the carrier 7 moves one line every time the power is turned on, regardless of the mode, especially the thermal mode. It's not good either. For this reason, the color ribbon switch 48 is used to enable detection by minute winding operations.

Returning to the flow shown in FIG. 11, the paper end is detected prior to the mode determination described above. This is because, in mode determination, the thermal head 12 is turned on and a ribbon winding operation of 25 to 30 mm is performed regardless of the mode, but if there is no paper 3 on the platen 4 at this time, the thermal Although the head 12 runs through the ink ribbon or directly in pressure contact with the platen 4,
Since the platen 4 of the thermal printer is soft and its hardness is very low (approximately 25 degrees), the load on the carrier 7 becomes abnormally high compared to when paper 3 is present, and the carrier motor 8
may be subject to tax adjustment. Therefore, before moving the carrier 7 for mode determination, the paper end sensor 56 determines whether paper 3 is set or not, and if there is no paper 3, the carrier 7 stops traveling, that is, does not move to the mode determination operation. It is something.

Next, in FIG. 11, the mode determination process is completed, and if the color ink transfer mode is selected, ribbon cueing is performed. Since color printing is performed in the order of yellow, magenta, and cyan, this is a routine that searches for the beginning of yellow.
As shown in the figure, this is done by taking advantage of the fact that the black belt marker at the beginning of yellow is approximately 8 m long, which is longer than the black belt marker at the beginning of magenta and cyan (approximately 5 m). First, the thermal head 12
is turned on, and ribbon feeding becomes possible. Therefore,
It is determined whether the ribbon sensor 15 detects a black band marker. If it is a black belt marker, set the black flag to count the number of times, and after driving carrier 7 to the right end,
Turning off the thermal head 12 and returning the carrier 7 to the home position on the left side again. While repeating this operation several times, the length of the black band marker was determined, and the length was approximately 8 mm +. If there is, it is a black band marker at the beginning of yellow, and the remaining number of steps is set and the carrier motor 8 is moved by the number of steps. This number of steps is a value that also takes into consideration the number of compensation steps corresponding to slippage in the ink ribbon 13, as will be described later. When the carrier motor 8 is sent in this way, it means that one head has been taken out, and the carrier motor 8 stops and the thermal head 1
After 2 is turned off, it returns to the home position and becomes ready for printing. On the other hand, if the black belt marker of about 81 m is not detected even after the fourth black belt marker detection, a mechanical error is considered, and an error flag is set. As you can see, the black marker at the beginning of yellow is different from the others,
One cycle of the color ink ribbon (yellow, magenta, cyan) can be detected and cueing can be easily performed.

The processing up to this ribbon cue routine is a preset for printing.

In Figure 11, after the preset ends, the main screen is reached.
Determine whether or not the printer is ready for printing.

First, it is determined whether or not the printer is online (printing operation is not possible while offline), and then it is determined whether a paper end or ribbon end has occurred.

Next, it is determined whether or not there is data from the host, and if there is received data, the data sent from the host is analyzed and edited in the data editing routine, and it is determined whether the print start conditions have been reached. Output. When the printing start condition is met, in the color ink transfer mode, the drive speed of the carrier motor 8 is set to a high speed, and then color adjustment is performed. This is because if the color you want to print now is yellow, you can continue with the ribbon cueing process, but if you want to print from magenta, for example, you have to wind the ribbon up to the magenta leading part.

This winding does not require printing and is performed at high speed. Next, in the print setting routine, the moving range of the carrier 7 is determined, the number of steps is calculated, data from the start to end of printing is set, and the printing start time is calculated. After that, a carrier system interrupt is established. Incidentally, the printing system interruption shown in FIG. 13 is performed from the carrier system.

On the other hand, although it is an offline process, the line feed key 5
If 4 is pressed, paper line feed processing is performed. Next, the select key (print continuation key) is also used to determine the restart key after the ribbon ends. And, in the case of color, the ribbon cue is performed, but is the ribbon reset? It is determined whether or not the ribbon cue was successfully found. After such processing, preparations are made for a reprint operation after printing is interrupted.

Next, the movement of the carrier 7 will be examined with reference to the flow of the carrier motor system in FIG. In this figure, the movements of the printing carrier 7 are shown in order: a slow-up routine, a constant-speed routine, and a slow-down routine. In either routine, the ribbon end is constantly monitored, and when the ribbon end is reached, the movement of the carrier 7 is stopped and the thermal head 12 is turned off. or.

Ribbon management is also always performed. This ribbon management is intended to eliminate color shift during color printing due to instability in the amount of ribbon winding.

This ribbon management will be explained with reference to FIG. 15.

First, thermal mode and black ink transfer mode are excluded. Then, once the ribbon black is detected, the immediately preceding part must be black, and the length other than black is determined. 40m
If it is less than m, it is the striped part of the ribbon end,
Set the ribbon end flag. On the other hand, if it is 40 mm or more, it is an effective part as a color ribbon, and a black flag is set when a black band marker is detected. If it is the color ink transfer mode after this black band marker is detected, the 18th
After performing the printing start position correction operation shown in the figure, the black flag is cleared. On the other hand, if the black color comes on too quickly and the winding is over 3.25m or more.

Two types of processing are performed. In other words, when the black band marker at the beginning of the first color appears, if printing in that color has already been completed for that line, the thermal head 1
2 is turned OFF to stop the ribbon winding and not cause an error. However, if printing is in progress, the printing operation, the movement of the carrier 7, and the ribbon winding operation are interrupted as a ribbon error. However, the ribbon end flag is set as the flag. This is because the processing after ribbon winding failure and the processing after ribbon end are the same in the main system and offline system.

In FIG. 18, if correction is possible in one line, it is determined whether or not the ink ribbon 13 is slipping. This determination is made by the ribbon sensor 1 as explained in FIG.
5 has detected the next marker B (in), (
Calculate the dimension L sent from state i) to state ■, add L to the distance L2 between the thermal head 12 and ribbon sensor 15, which is a fixed value, and set this as a fixed value. By subtracting from the distance between a certain marker A and marker B, the sliding distance can be obtained. That is, if this calculated value is "+", there is an amount of slippage, and if this calculated value is "-", there is an amount of excessive winding.

Therefore, if there is too much winding, the amount of overwinding in one remaining line of printing is predicted, and the predicted overwinding amount is subtracted from L2 to set the number of remaining carrier steps.

Furthermore, when slippage occurs, the amount of slippage in the remaining one line of printing is predicted. In other words, the amount of slippage that will occur between the time when the feed is performed for L2 and the cueing shown in FIG.
Check whether correction is possible on the line, and if correction is possible, set a minute adjustment amount. If correction is not possible, set the number of remaining carrier steps.

In addition, in FIG. 18, when it is impossible to correct one line, the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon 13 is determined, and the remaining one
Predict the amount of slippage in line printing, add P lubrication to L2, set minute adjustment #, set additional winding flag, and set the number of 1 line steps. That is,
After returning the carrier 7 to the left end, the carrier 7 is operated by the minute adjustment amount to feed the ink ribbon 13 and locate the beginning.

Incidentally, such adjustment is performed by controlling the head load and head off by the number of steps of the carrier motor, as shown in FIG.

Note that FIG. 13 shows a printing system routine for printing by controlling the output of the thermal head 12, and ribbon end determination is added to the normal processing.

Effects of the Invention The present invention provides a detector for detecting markers on an ink ribbon on a carrier holding a thermal head as described above,
When printing one line, the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon is calculated based on the amount of movement of the carrier from the printing start position to the detection position of the marker by the detector, and the marker is moved from the detection position of the marker to the position of the thermal head. The number of shifts corresponding to the amount of slippage that would occur during that time is added to the number of shifts necessary for feeding the carrier to move the ink ribbon up to 100 degrees. Even if there is a gap between the thermal head and the detector, the amount of slippage is compensated for and the beginning is performed, and even if there is a gap between the thermal head and the detector, accurate beginning can be performed. Since the ribbon is fed at the fastest feeding speed, high-speed printing can be performed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the vicinity of the carrier, FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view, and FIG. 4 is an exploded view. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the ribbon cassette, FIG. 6 is a block diagram, FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the color ink ribbon, and FIG. 8 is an explanation showing the position of the carrier in relation to dots and the number of steps. 9 is a perspective view showing the relationship between the thermal head, ribbon sensor, and ink ribbon marker, and FIG. 10 (i) to (v)
1 is an explanatory diagram showing the process of cueing, and FIGS. 11 to 18 are flowcharts. 7...Carrier, 12...Thermal head, 13.
... Ink ribbon, 15... Ribbon sensor (detector)
Applicant Tokyo Electric Co., Ltd. Amendment 9 (August 8, 1985 1) Case indication Japanese Patent Application No. 153489/1989 2 Title of invention Ink ribbon cueing method for color thermal printer 4,
Agent 5, No date of amendment order. Amendment No. 153489/1989 Regarding this application, the statement in the specification is amended as follows. 1, page 14, line 9, ``as described later, carrier system'' is corrected to ``carrier system'' by transmitting the operating conditions of the carrier as described later. 2. Correct "color ink ribbon cassette set" in lines 9 and 10 of page 26 to "color ink ribbon set". 3. In the 6th line of page 31, amend ``to do'' to ``to make to do.''

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Using an ink ribbon in which a plurality of colors with a length corresponding to the feed dimension of the carrier are sequentially arranged and a marker is provided at the beginning of each different color, the ink ribbon is transferred to the carrier by head loading. The ink ribbon is fed at a feed amount that matches the amount of movement of the ink ribbon, and the feeding of the ink ribbon is stopped when the head is turned off. During printing, the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon is calculated based on the amount of movement of the carrier from the printing start position to the detection position of the marker by the detector, and the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon is calculated from the detection position of the marker until the marker reaches the position of the thermal head. An ink ribbon for a color thermal printer, characterized in that the ink ribbon for a color thermal printer is characterized in that the number of shifts corresponding to the amount of slippage that will occur during that time is added to the number of shifts necessary for feeding the carrier during the movement to perform cueing. How to cue. 2. Using an ink ribbon in which multiple colors with a length corresponding to the feed dimension of the carrier are sequentially arranged and a marker is provided at the beginning of each different color, the ink ribbon is moved by head loading to match the amount of movement of the carrier. In an ink ribbon that feeds at a feeding rate and stops feeding when the head is off, a detector for detecting a marker on the ink ribbon is provided on the carrier that holds the thermal head, and the printing start position is detected when printing one line. The amount of slippage of the ink ribbon is calculated based on the amount of movement of the carrier from to the detection position of the marker by the detector, and the amount of slippage of the ink ribbon required for the marker to move from the detection position of the marker to the position of the thermal head is calculated. The number of shifts corresponding to the amount of slippage that will occur during that time is added to the number of shifts for feeding the carrier to perform cueing, and the fastest winding mode is used when winding the ink ribbon that does not require printing. An ink ribbon cueing method for a color printer, characterized in that the ink ribbon is set to .