JPS62216781A - Ribbon saving controlling system for thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance ribbon-saving efficiency, by providing a means for controlling the distance by which a printing head is retracted on the basis of printing data outputted from a host device, and discriminating whether the retracting distance for the printing head is to be large or small according to the length of a blank part present in a given line. CONSTITUTION:A controlling means 6 for a thermal transfer printer 5 calculates the distance of a non-printing space, i.e., the pitch in each line, from printing data outputted from a host device 1. When it is discriminated based on a retraction time plus an approach time that a ribbon can be saved and a printing head can be retracted to a small retraction position, the controlling means 6 retracts the head to the small retraction position. When it is discriminated that the pitch is so large that the head can be retracted to a large retraction position, the controlling means 6 retracts the head to the large retraction position. Thus, when the thermal transfer printer is supplied with the printing data from the host device, a non-printing (blank) part contained in a one-line amount of printing data is detected, the pitch of the non-printing part is checked, and it is discriminated whether the ribbon can be saved. When the ribbon can be saved, the printing head is retracted to the small retracted position or the large retracted position according to the magnitude of the pitch.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] When ribbon feeding is stopped and ribbon is saved by retracting the print head according to the length of the blank area existing in the print line, the blank area is long. If ribbon saving is possible even if the print head retraction distance is increased, increase the retraction distance, and if the length of the blank area is short and ribbon saving is not possible without reducing the print head retraction distance, increase the retraction distance. Reduce the evacuation distance and increase ribbon saving efficiency.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a serial type thermal transfer printer that winds up a ribbon while printing, and in particular, to increase the ribbon saving efficiency by changing the retraction distance of the print head with respect to the length of the blank area that exists in the print line. This invention relates to a ribbon saving control method for thermal transfer printers.

Serial type thermal transfer printers heat the heating element in the print head to melt the hot melt ink on the ribbon and transfer it onto paper to print. In this case, since the ribbon is pushed by the print head into close contact with the paper, it is wound up at the same speed as the print head to avoid contaminating the paper by rubbing the ribbon against the paper.

In other words, thermal transfer printers have a ribbon cassette mounted on a carrier that transports the print head to the printing position, and when the print head is in close contact with the paper (hereinafter referred to as approach), the ribbon is wound up at the same time as printing. When the print head retreats from the paper (hereinafter abbreviated as escape), the ribbon is not wound up.

The power source for ribbon winding is the spacing motion that moves the carrier, and the winding mechanism is linked to the approach/escape mechanism of the printhead. That is, when the print head enters the approach state, power is transmitted by a gear that meshes with a gear rotated by a space motor, for example, and when the print head enters the escape state, the gear moves away and ribbon winding stops.

By the way, the thermal transfer ribbon runs out of ink in the area that has been transferred once, so even if there is a part where no printing is performed and the ribbon is not worn out, it cannot be used again. Therefore, ribbon conservation is important.

[Prior Art] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating approach/escape states.

FIG. 5(al) is a top view, and FIG. 5('b) is a side view.

20 is a ribbon cassette; 21 is a print head in an approach state; 22 is a print head in an escape state;
3 is a ribbon in an approach state, 24 is a ribbon in an escape state, 25 is a carrier, and 26 is a platen.

The ribbon cassette 20 is mounted on a carrier 25 and has a notch into which the print head 22 is inserted.When the print head 22 is in the escape state, the ribbon 24 is away from the platen 26, and when the print head 21 is in the approach state, the ribbon 24 is separated from the platen 26. is pulled out from the ribbon cassette 20 by the print head 21 and comes into close contact with the paper on the platen 26.

If carrier 25 moves in the direction of arrow A, ribbon 23 is wound up in the direction of arrow B at the same speed as the moving speed of carrier 25.

Here, using FIG. 6, the state of use of the ribbon will be explained.

When printing one line on a sheet of paper, there are cases in which all - lines are printed, and cases in which there is no printing in the middle.

If there is no printing on the way, if you leave the print head in the approach state, printing will occur at the diagonally lined positions ■ and ■ in Figure 6, which will wear out the ribbon, but the ribbon will be worn out during the period when no printing is performed. The part marked ■ corresponding to is not consumed.

Therefore, since the portion of the ribbon corresponding to ■ is wasted, winding of the ribbon is normally stopped while the print head is in the escape state and no printing is performed.

By the way, the normal retracted position of the print head is a position that takes into consideration ribbon replacement, paper setting, etc., and if attention is focused only on ribbon winding, the print head will be retracted more than necessary.

In other words, when saving ribbon while running the carrier, the length of the non-printing part must be longer than the pitch at which the carrier moves during the total time required for escape and approach. is necessary.

A large print head retraction distance means a long escape+approach time.

Therefore, the length of the non-printing portion of the ribbon that can be saved becomes longer.

As a countermeasure for this, there is a small evacuation position where the print head evacuation position is set to the minimum necessary distance, and a large evacuation position where the normal evacuation position is set. A ribbon saving method has been proposed in which the print head is retracted to a small retraction position if it is possible to conserve ribbon at a time when ribbon is to be saved, and the print head is retracted to a large retraction position at the time of line feed or ribbon replacement.

That is, when the print head is retracted to the small evacuation position, the travel distance required for evacuation of the print head becomes smaller, and the escape + approach time is shortened. It is now possible to perform ribbon saving processing on blank areas that are short by 1.5%, resulting in a significant ribbon saving effect.

By the way, a pulse motor is used as a power source to evacuate the print head to the small evacuation position or the large evacuation position, but this type of printer usually uses a small pulse motor to perform approach/escape operations in a shorter time. To achieve this, modulation (a control method in which the pulse motor's rotation is gradually made faster when starting and gradually slower when stopped) may be performed.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the position of the print head.

If the vertical axis is the position of the print head and the horizontal axis is time, the position of the print head driven by the modulated pulse motor will gradually change as time passes from the origin Xo, assuming that the origin Yo is the position of the platen. is accelerated, and eventually moves at maximum speed, increasing the distance it travels.

When the print head is stopped at the small evacuation position Y2 where the moving distance is short, the pulse motor gradually decelerates, so the gear of the ribbon winding mechanism disengages, and if the position where ribbon winding is stopped is Yl, the time is It is Xl.

When the print head is stopped at the large retreat position Y3, which has a long travel distance, when the print head passes the position YI, the pulse motor is moving the print head at high speed, and the time is Xl.

Therefore, the time it takes for the print head to reach the position where it stops ribbon winding from the start of driving the pulse motor is longer than that when moving the print head to the large retraction position.
1-X indicates that the amount required is as small as possible.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

When there is a blank area in one line where printing is not performed to save ribbon, if the print head is always retracted to the small evacuation position regardless of the length of the blank area, the print head should be moved to the large evacuation position. Even if the ribbon is evacuated, there is a problem in that ribbon saving efficiency is poor compared to the above-mentioned time reduction in the blank portion that is long enough for the approach/escape operation to be completed.

In view of these problems, the present invention switches the retraction position of the print head between a small retraction position and a large retraction position according to the length of the empty or white part of the line, and performs print head evacuation processing. It is something to do.

[Means for solving problems]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention.

1 is a host device such as a word processor or a personal computer; 2 is a display section of the host device 1; 3 is a main body of the host device; and 4 is a keyboard for inputting commands and data into the main body 3.

5 is a thermal transfer printer that prints characters, etc. under the control of the host device 1; 6 is a thermal transfer printer that prints characters, etc. under the control of the host device 1; 6, detects a blank section in each print line in which no characters are printed from the print data sent by the host device 1, and controls the retraction distance of the print head; control means.

The control means 6 of the thermal transfer printer 5 calculates the distance of the space where printing is not performed for each print line, that is, the pitch, from the print data sent by the host device 1, and saves the ribbon from the escape + approach time and moves it to the small evacuation position. When it is determined that the print head can be evacuated, the print head is made to escape to the small evacuation position, and when the pitch is large and it is determined that the print head can be evacuated to the large evacuation position, the print head is escaped to the large evacuation position. composition.

[Effect]

With the above configuration, when the thermal transfer printer receives print data sent from the host device, it detects a blank area where printing is not specified from a part of the print data, checks the pitch, and if it is possible to save ribbon. Depending on the size of the pinch, the print head can be retracted from the small evacuation position to the large evacuation position.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit showing one embodiment of the present invention.

The processor 7 reads a program from the ROM 8 and operates. When print data is input from a host device such as a word processor via the interface circuit 10, the processor 7 stores it in RAM II, and also calculates the length of the blank area that is not printed, that is, the pitch, from a portion of the print data and stores it in RAM II. .

The processor 7 drives the pulse motor 19 via the approach/escape control circuit 18 to bring the print head 13 into the approach state, extracts a character code from the print data successively output from the RAM 11, and generates the corresponding character from the character generation circuit 9. Read the pattern and print head control circuit 1
2, the ribbon is sent to the rad 13 for printing, and a heating element is heated to transfer the ink on the ribbon onto the paper.

At the same time, the space motor 17 is driven via the space system <15 circuit 16 to move the carrier, position the print head 13 at the printing position, and perform a space operation. At this time, since the print head 13 is in the approach state as described above, the ribbon is wound up at the same speed as the carrier.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the operation of FIG. 2.

The processor 7 calculates and stores the third
The retracted state of the pad 13 for printing is determined by the pitch of the blank space in the three states shown in the figure.

That is, assuming that the shaded area is the printing part in one line, the situation shown in FIG. 3(a) is a case where it is determined that the ribbon cannot be saved due to the small pitch and the escape + approach time of the radar 13 to the printing. 3(b), it is possible to save ribbon from the escape + approach time of the print head 13, but the retracted position of the print head 13 is at a pitch determined to be a small retracted position, and as shown in FIG. C) is a pitch at which the retraction position of 7 dots 13 to print is determined to be the large retraction position.

Therefore, when the processor 7 determines that the pitch is such that the print head 13 can be retracted to the large evacuation position, when the blank area is reached, the processor 7 drives the pulse motor 19 via the approach/escape control circuit 18 to move the print head 13 to the large evacuation position. Evacuate 3.

If it is determined that the above-mentioned pitch size is enough to allow the print head 13 to retreat to the small evacuation position, when the blank space is reached, the pulse motor 19 is driven via the approach/escape control circuit 18 to print at the small evacuation position. head 13
evacuate.

If it is determined that the pitch does not allow enough room for the print head 13 to retreat, the processor 7 does not drive the pulse motor 19.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the invention in detail.

In Fig. 4(a), for example, ABC is printed on the paper ■.
Indicates a case where there is a long blank space and DEF is printed.
FIG. 4(b) shows the difference between the state of FIG. 4(a) when the ribbon is saved at the small retraction position and when the ribbon is saved at the large retraction position.

That is, the ink on the ribbon ■ is transferred and leaves a trace of ABC printed, and the escape + for retracting to the small evacuation position
After there is a portion that does not wear out as much as the ribbon is unwound during the approach time, a trace of DEF is left behind.

Also, on the ribbon ■, there is a trace printed with ABC after being transferred, and after there is a part that does not wear out as the ribbon is fed out during the escape + approach time to retreat to the large evacuation position, there is a trace printed with DEF. is left behind.

In this case, between the ribbons ■ and ribbons ■, the amount saved for the ribbon ■ is greater by the amount of ribbon unwinding distance α corresponding to the difference in time x2−x shown in FIG. That is, the amount of savings will be greater if the printing pad 13 is retracted to the large retraction position.

When the processor 7 detects the line feed code from the print data, it drives the pulse motor 19 via the approach/escape control circuit 18, retracts the print head 13 to the large evacuation position, and drives the line feed motor IS via the line feed control circuit 14. , causes the paper to be fed.

Furthermore, even if there is no line feed code at the end, the print head 13 is retracted to the large retraction position in the same way as described above when printing of the -sort is completed so that ribbon replacement, paper setting, etc. can be easily performed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the present invention can perform detailed saving processing on the ribbon of a thermal transfer printer depending on the size of the print blank pitch.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of the principle of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit showing an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 is a diagram explaining the operation of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a detailed diagram of the invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the approach/escape state, FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the usage state of the ribbon, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the position of the print head. In the figure, 1 is a host device, 2 is a display unit, 3 is a main body, 4 is a keyboard, 5 is a thermal transfer printer, 6 is a control means, 7 is a processor, and 8 is a ROM. 9 is a character generation circuit, 10 is an interface circuit, 11
12 is a RAM, 12 is a print head control circuit, 13.
21.22 is a print head, 14 is a line feed control circuit, 15 is a line feed motor, 16 is a space control circuit, 17 is a space motor, 18 is an approach/escape control circuit, 19 is a pulse motor, 20 is a ribbon cassette, 23.24 is a ribbon, 25 is a carrier, and 26 is a platen. /P, $v-eyed tiger F mouth/soft figure 4-1 Kunishi Rishi υ month's Kazutoshiri J and the little drunk's prologue 6 prelude 2 (2) 102 figures T Tsuchu Kai PLS 5 Hi Sun Moon (BC Suspension 3 Ward (b) Intersection of Bu and 8 Rivers Uetsu Kun υ Month L3O System 4 Kun (α) (b) Our Blow Force/E7.7-Explanation to Busu Kawari Tsui 430 Graduation 5
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Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer printer (5) that saves ribbon by stopping ribbon feeding by retracting a print head according to the length of a blank space existing in a print line, comprising: a host device (1); ) is provided with a control means (6) for controlling the retracting distance of the print head based on the print data sent by the printer, and retracts the print head in the blank part corresponding to the length of the blank part existing in one line. A ribbon saving control method for a thermal transfer printer is characterized in that the ribbon saving control method for a thermal transfer printer is characterized in that processing is performed by determining whether to increase or decrease a print head retraction distance based on the time required for print head retraction processing.