JPS6223775A - Reusing of cassette ribbon in thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable an ink ribbon to be reused by providing a signal discriminat ing circuit to sent output only by means of signals to be generated when printing section is continuous but not by means of signals to be generated when ink- deficient printing section is intermittent, and operating a control operation mechanism to respond to a ink ribbonless state by the output of the signal discriminating circuit. CONSTITUTION:The presence or absence of ink on an ink ribbon 16 is detected by a reflection type photo sensor 22. When ink is present on the ribbon 16, a high-level signal is input in a control circuit 21 because no light from light emitting diode 23 is received; but when no ink is present, light passing through a reflection plate 25 is received by the photo transistor 24 and low-level signal is input in the control circuit 21. After printing, information signal from the sensor 22 is sent to the circuit 21 each time the carriage is moved one pitch to the right direction and stored in the internal RAM. By the circuit 21, only when an ink-deficient signal is detected continuously n-times, an action for ink ribbonless state is also commanded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to the use of ink ribbon cassettes in thermal transfer printers.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In thermal transfer printers, if the end of the ribbon that has not been coated with ink is reached during use, this is detected, the printing operation is automatically stopped, and the ink ribbon cassette is replaced with a new one. did. With conventional ink dropout detection methods, even if a printout is detected in the middle of the ribbon, the printing operation immediately stops, so once used ink ribbons are discarded without being reused.

However, during printing, the amount of ink that comes off the ink ribbon is extremely small compared to the area of the entire ribbon. Therefore, even if the printing is slightly blurred, it is still a memo.

It can be reused for drafting.

In order to enable reuse of the ink ribbon, the method of the present invention detects the position of the ink dropout area that occurs on the ink ribbon due to thermal transfer printing while feeding the ribbon, and stores the data. When reusing a cassette and a device that stores it as a signal, the signal is regenerated in synchronization with the ribbon feeding, and the signal is not output when the printed area with ink is intermittent, but when the printing area is A signal discrimination circuit is provided that outputs only signals when the signal is continuous over a length of several characters.
The present invention is characterized in that a control operation mechanism responsive to the absence of ink ribbon is energized by the output of the discrimination circuit.

According to the method of the present invention, even if an ink missing part is detected on the ink ribbon during printing, if the ink missing part is intermittent, the signal discrimination circuit does not output any output, so the printing work is not interrupted.

The ``control operation responsive to the state of no ink ribbon'' described in the previous section refers to the operation of continuously feeding the ink ribbon while the printing operation is stopped.

According to the method of the present invention, when the input signal to the signal discrimination circuit disappears, the state returns to the state where the ink ribbon is fed one pitch at a time for each printing operation.

Example Next, the present invention will be explained in detail.

In FIG. 1, an ink ribbon sensor 22 for detecting the presence or absence of ink on a thermal head 15, a ribbon cassette 5, and a ribbon 16 is mounted on a V-rule 4 fixed between a side plate 1 and a side plate 2 of a printer frame. A loaded carriage 5 is slidably placed.

The carriage 5 is moved in the left-right direction by a carriage motor 8 via a timing belt 10f.

The printer in this example uses a unidirectional printing method that prints when moving in the right direction, and only when moving in the right direction, the ink ribbon
6 is wound up. The transfer paper 14 is fed by a line feed motor 11.

18 indicates a platen.

The carriage motor 8 , line feed motor 11 , home position sensor 6 , thermal head 15 , and ink ribbon sensor 22 are controlled by a control circuit 21 .

FIG. 2 shows the connection to the control circuit 21.

The presence or absence of ink on the ribbon 16 is detected by a reflective photosensor 22. When there is ink on the ribbon, the light from the light emitting diode 23 is not received, so a high V bell signal is generated, and when there is no ink, the light that has passed through the reflection plate 25 is received by the phototransistor 24, and a low novel signal is generated. It is input to the control circuit 21.

The thermal head 15 is driven to perform printing at the designated printing position. After printing - Every time the pitch carriage moves in the right direction, an information signal from the ink ribbon sensor 22 is sent to the control circuit 2.
1 and stored in internal RAM. Control circuit 2
1 determines that there is no ink ribbon only when all ink-free signals are detected n times in a row based on the information signal, and also commands an operation corresponding to the state of no ink ribbon.

FIG. 3(1) shows a used ink ribbon, and FIG. 3(2) shows a terminal end of the ink ribbon. The length of the uninked portion 28 is sufficiently large during printing.

FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the phase output signals (φl to φ4) of the carriage motor 8 and the signals (81, 82) of the ink ribbon sensor 22 when printing is performed while winding the ink ribbon 16.

The signal S1 is a signal when the character printing liquid in FIG. 3(1) is detecting the end of the ink ribbon, and the signal S2 is the signal when the end of the ink ribbon is being detected in FIG. 3(2).

Effect of the invention According to the cassette ribbon reuse method of the present invention.

Malfunctions due to noise to the ink ribbon sensor are prevented, instability of sensor detection due to uneven ink application is improved, and running costs are reduced because printing can be performed again with a used ink ribbon using the mechanism of a conventional thermal transfer printer. It has the effect of reducing

[Brief Description of the Drawings] Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a thermal transfer printer, Fig. 2 is a control circuit diagram for carrying out the cassette ribbon reusing method of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a diagram for preventing ink loss from the ink ribbon. FIG. 4, which is a diagram for explaining the state, is a diagram showing an ink omission information signal. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2... Side plate, 4... Wheel, 5... Carriage, 6... Home position sensor, 7... Ribbon cassette, 8... Carriage motor, 10... Timing belt, 11 ...Line feed motor, 1
2... Gear, 14... Transfer paper, 15... Thermal head, 16... Ink ribbon, 18... Platen, 21... Antibacterial circuit, 22... Ribbon sensor,
23... Light emitting diode. 24...Phototransistor, 25...Reflector, 2
6... Ink-applied area, 28... Ink-free area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device that detects the position of ink dropouts that occur on the ink ribbon due to thermal transfer printing while feeding the ribbon, and stores this data as a signal, and a device that synchronizes with the ribbon feeding when reusing the cassette. The above-mentioned signal is generated when the ink-drained printed area is intermittent, and the signal is not output when the printed area is continuous over the length of several characters. A signal discrimination circuit is provided to
A method for reusing a cassette ribbon in a thermal transfer printer, characterized in that a control operation mechanism responsive to a state of no ink ribbon is energized by the output of the discrimination circuit.