JPS6230075A - Multicolor ink ribbon for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to dispose many colors without increasing the width of a ribbon and to accurately position color zones with respect to a printing unit by constructing the printer to position the prescribed color zones in the unit based on information in an information storage unit. CONSTITUTION:Color information in an information storage unit 7 of an ink ribbon 6 is detected by a detector 12. The detector 12 is provided by opposing a light emitting unit 13 to a photoreceptor 14 through the ribbon 6, the unit 13 has three upper and lower light emitting elements 13a, 13b, 13c provided oppositely to the pore positions of the memory 7 of the ribbon 6, and the photoreceptor 14 has three upper and lower photoreception elements 14a, 14b, 14c similarly provided oppositely to the pore positions of the storage 7. The detector 12 is so positioned that, when the storage 7 is being detected, the color zone corresponding to color information in the storage 7 is disposed at a printing unit and hence the position where a dot head 1 and a platen 5 are opposed. Since the color zone is positioned on the printing unit according to the information in the storage, the positioning can be executed accurately.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention relates to a multicolor ink ribbon for printers.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, multicolor ink ribbons for printers have been designed to be divided into a plurality of colors along the width direction of a long ribbon. However, such a ribbon with colors divided in the width direction has a problem in that the width of the ribbon becomes large and it is not possible to arrange a large number of colors due to the width limit.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, when the colors are divided in the width direction in this way, the width of the ribbon becomes large, and there is a problem that it is not possible to arrange a large number of colors due to the width limit. For this reason, it is conceivable to arrange many colors along the length of the ribbon, but if this is done simply, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to position the color divisions with respect to the printing area due to feed misalignment during use of the ribbon. There is.

This invention was made to solve these problems, and it is a multi-color printer for printers that allows multiple colors to be arranged without increasing the width of the ribbon, and that also allows for accurate positioning of color categories with respect to the printing area. The purpose is to provide ink ribbons.

[Means for solving problems]

In this invention, a long ink ribbon is divided into a plurality of colors along its longitudinal direction, and an information storage section is formed between the color sections, and a desired color section is set in the printing section based on the information in the information storage section. The configuration is such that it is located at

[Effect]

In the present invention having such a configuration, since the ink ribbon is divided into a plurality of colors along its longitudinal direction, it is possible to arrange a large number of colors without increasing the width of the ribbon. Further, since the information storage section is provided between the color sections, when positioning a desired color section on the printing section, the feed position can be determined based on the information stored in the information storage section.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the present invention will be described as applied to a dot type 7' IJ printer.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a dot head of a dot type printer, and this dot head 1 is attached to the upper part of a carrier 3 that runs left and right on a carrier shaft 2. A platen 5 on which printing paper 4 is wound is provided opposite the dot head 1, and a long multicolor ink ribbon 6 is interposed between the platen 5 and the dot head 1. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink ribbon 6 has red, blue,
It is divided into six colors: yellow, black, green, and brown, and information storage sections 7, 7, . . . that store color information are formed between each color division. In each of the information storage sections 7, for example, three holes are formed in the upper and lower positions, and color information is stored by selectively forming holes 8 in one or two of the positions. That is, for red information, hole 8 is punched at the bottom, for blue information, hole 8 is punched in the middle, for yellow information, holes 8 and 8 are punched at the bottom and in the middle, and for black information, hole 8 is punched at the top. The green information is stored in holes 8 and 8 at the bottom and the top, and the brown information is stored in holes 8 and 8 at the top and in the middle, respectively.

The ink ribbon 6 has a pair of ribbon feeding rollers 9, 10.
One of the ribbons is fed between the
1 enables movement in the longitudinal direction.

The color information of the information storage section 70 of the ink ribbon 6 is stored in the detector 1.
2 is used for detection. Said.

As shown in FIG. 3, the detector 12 is provided with a light emitter 13 and a light receiver 14 facing each other with an ink ribbon 6 interposed therebetween. A light emitting element 13a with three holes above and below facing the hole position,
13b and 13c are provided, and the light receiver 14 also has three light receiving elements 14a and 14b located above and below, facing the hole position of the information storage section 7.

14C is provided. That is, the light-emitting element 13a and the light-receiving element 14a are arranged opposite to each other with the top hole position in between, and the light-emitting element 13b and the light-receiving element 14b are arranged opposite to each other with the middle hole position in between, and Element 13a
and the light receiving element 14c are arranged opposite to each other with the bottom hole position interposed therebetween. When the detector 12 is detecting the information storage section 7, the color division section corresponding to the color information of the information storage section 7 is located at the printing section, that is, at the location where the dot head 1 and the platen 5 face each other. Its installation location has been determined.

And mask controller 15 and sub controller 16
If there is input information, the mask controller 15 first supplies color data to the sub-controller 16 based on the input information. When the sub-controller 16 receives color data, it operates the motor 11 to rotate the ribbon feeding roller 9, thereby moving the ink ribbon 6 in the longitudinal direction.

When the information storage section 7 on the ink ribbon 6 comes to a position where it can be detected by the detector 12, the operation of the motor 11 is stopped.
The detector 7 reads color information from the information storage section 7 and compares the color information with input color data. When it is determined that the color information and color data match, this is transmitted to the mask controller 15. As a result, the mask controller 15 supplies print data to the sub-controller 16 and starts running control of the carrier 3.

The sub-controller 16 operates the dot head 1 based on input print data. When the sub-controller 16 determines that the color information and color data do not match, it restarts the motor 11 and moves on to the next detection operation of the information storage section 7, and this operation is performed when the color information that matches the color data is detected. I try to keep repeating it until it is read.

In the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, the operation of positioning the color classification area corresponding to the input color data in the printing section is carried out by the ribbon feed roller 9 and another ribbon feed roller which are rotationally driven by the motor 1. 10, the ribbon 6 is moved in the longitudinal direction, the color information is read from the information storage section 7 by the detector 12, and the read color information is combined with the input color data. Since this is done to ensure consistency, even if there are many different colors, mechanical positioning control will not be strained.Furthermore, the positioning can be performed using electrical control, making it easy to position the printed area of each color category. Can be done accurately. Moreover, the mechanical mechanism used to control the positioning of this color classification is only the motor 11 and the ribbon feed rollers 9 and 10, and the positions of both rollers 9 and 10 are fixed and they are simply driven to rotate, so they are not used. Even if the frequency increases, there is no risk that the service life will be significantly reduced compared to conventional ink ribbons that move up and down. In addition, since the ink ribbon 6 is divided into a plurality of colors in the longitudinal direction, the width of the ink ribbon 6 is always the width of one color even if the number of colors increases, and the ribbon width increases as the number of colors increases. No inconvenience will occur. Since the longitudinal direction of the long ink ribbon 6 is divided into a plurality of colors in this way, it is possible to easily use a variety of colors, and the practicality can be improved.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the information storage section stores color information using holes and detects the color information using an optical detector. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Alternatively, the color information may be stored in the color information and detected by a magnetic detector.

Although the above embodiment describes the application of the present invention to a dot type printer, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this, and may be applied to, for example, a line printer. It can be applied to any printer.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, since a plurality of colors are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the ink ribbon, the width of the ribbon does not vary. Further, since an information storage section is provided and the positioning of color classifications to the printing section is performed based on the information in the storage section, accurate positioning can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the present invention, the first factor is a schematic diagram of the main parts, the second factor is a diagram showing the structure of the ink ribbon, and the third factor is a schematic configuration diagram of the main part.
The figure is a perspective view showing the configuration of the detector. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Dot head (printing part), 6... Ink ribbon, 7... Information storage part, 8... Hole (information). Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue's treason Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] A long ink ribbon is divided into a plurality of colors along its longitudinal direction, and an information storage section is formed between the color divisions,
A multicolor ink ribbon for a printer, characterized in that a desired color classification is positioned in a printing section based on information in the information storage section.