JPS63130377A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance operability, by providing a residual ribbon-amount alarm indication means for indicating an alarm when the residual amount of a ribbon is reduced to a predetermined residual amount. CONSTITUTION:A keyboard 1 is provided with an alarm residual-ribbon-amount setting mode key 12. When printing in a line is completed, a ribbon length (consumed ribbon length) (a) used in the printing is obtained by calculation. Based on the consumed ribbon length (a) thus obtained and an accumulative ribbon consumption TR before the printing, a new accumulative ribbon consumption TR at the moment of completion of the printing is obtained. When the accumulative ribbon consumption TR thus obtained reaches or exceeds the value of (total rolled ribbon amount) - (alarm residual-ribbon-amount), a message is displayed on a liquid crystal display device 2, and it is discriminated whether a continue key or a ribbon replacement key on the keyboard 1 is depressed. Thus, an alarm message is displayed when the residual ribbon amount is reduced to a preset residual ribbon amount.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a printing apparatus using a ribbon whose portion once used cannot be reused.

Disaster rice sandwiched east Generally, word processors, electronic typewriters.

Printing devices that use ribbons that cannot be reused (so-called "one-time ribbons"), such as thermal transfer printers and type printers, are used as output devices for various information processing devices such as personal computers and workstations. There is.

In printing devices that use such one-time ribbons, when the ribbon runs out, it must be replaced with a new ribbon. Therefore, the final position of the ribbon is a transparent film or silver film, and a transmissive or reflective photosensor is used to detect the ribbon. The final position of the ribbon (ribbon end) is detected, and when the ribbon reaches the end, the printing operation is stopped and a message to replace the ribbon is displayed.

However, in this case, the printing operation cannot be stopped when, for example, enlarged characters are being printed, and even if the printing operation can be stopped, printing will be restarted from a part of the character.

Therefore, the operator must visually check the remaining amount of ribbon to decide when to replace the ribbon, which is inconvenient in terms of operability.

Purpose This invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to improve operability.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with a function of displaying a warning when the remaining amount of ribbon reaches a predetermined amount.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an example of a document creation device equipped with a printing device embodying the present invention.

This document creation device uses characters (Hiragana, 9 Bakana).

a keyboard 1 as an input device for inputting information (including alphabets, symbols, etc.) and control information necessary for document creation, editing, printing, etc.; and a liquid crystal display as a display device having a multi-line display area for displaying documents, etc. Device(
LCD) 2, and a thermal transfer printer 3 as a printing device for printing documents and the like.

A floppy disk drive device (FDD) 4 is provided as an external storage device for storing documents and character patterns.

The keyboard 1 includes various character keys such as the A/N key, function keys such as the conversion key, and editing keys such as deletion and insertion, as well as a print key 11 that instructs printing and a warning ribbon that instructs the warning ribbon remaining amount setting mode. A ribbon remaining amount setting mode key 12 is provided.

Further, the printer 3 uses a ribbon cassette 21 in which an ink ribbon 22 of one tie 15 is loaded in a transparent cassette 23 to enable visual inspection from the outside, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example. .

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the control section of this document creation device.

A microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as "microcomputer") 51 of this control unit 50 has a CPU, a ROλ4° RAM, and an I/O
Consists of lo, etc., and performs kana-kanji conversion processing.

It controls the entire apparatus, including document creation/editing processing including line processing, display processing of text and layout, printing processing, nine-character enlargement processing, and processing related to ribbon remaining amount warning.

The ROM 52 contains control programs necessary to execute various processes of this device, standard formats (paper size, paper orientation, etc.).
It stores various fixed information such as character spacing (one line spacing) information.

The RAM 53 includes a code data storage area (input buffer area) that stores code data input from the keyboard 1, a character data storage area that stores input character data, a format data storage area that stores input format data, Stores various data, including a setting ribbon remaining amount storage area that displays the configured warning, stores the ribbon remaining amount, configured format information, line information such as left edge, right edge, etc., and an area that stores setting mode information, etc. It is used as a data area and a working area for program execution.

The dictionary memory 54 includes a dictionary area that stores dictionaries necessary for kana-kanji conversion (word dictionary, 9 part-of-speech classification tables, etc.), and character codes for converting character codes into character patterns in a predetermined typeface, such as Gothic or Mincho. It comprises a character pattern storage area that stores pattern data, a color type character pattern storage area that stores color type character patterns indicating color attributes of characters, and the like.

The keyboard controller 55 is in charge of determining input data from the keyboard 1 and transferring lighting control data for LEDs (not shown) attached to keys. The LCD controller 56 includes a video memory (VRAM) and the like therein, and controls the display of the liquid crystal display device 2 . A floppy disk controller (FDC) 57 controls writing and reading of information to and from the floppy disk drive device (FDD) 4. The character pattern storage area of the dictionary memory 54 and the area of the floppy disk of the floppy disk device 4 that stores character patterns are collectively referred to as the r character font storage area or character generator (abbreviated as rcG).
) It's called J.

The microcomputer 51 also controls the printer B,
Head drive data corresponding to the characters to be printed is outputted to 1061, and each heating element of the thermal head (print head) 63 is driven and controlled via the driver 62 to print the desired characters.

Further, the microcomputer 51 outputs space drive data via the l1061, drives and controls the space motor 65 via the driver 64 to move the carriage 66, and further outputs line feed drive data to drive the space motor 65.
The line feed motor 88 is driven and controlled via the line feed motor 7 to rotate the platen 6 and feed the paper. Furthermore, the head up/down drive data is outputted to drive and control the head up/down motor 74 via the driver 73 to move the print head 63 toward and away from the platen 69.

Note that in this printer 3, the print head 63 is connected to the platen 6.
A mechanism (not shown) is provided for feeding the ink ribbon 23 of the ribbon cassette 21 by moving the carriage in a state in which it is in pressure contact with the ribbon 23.
The structure may include a ribbon feed motor for feeding the ribbon.

Further, this printer 3 is a printer capable of color printing, and color printing is performed by, for example, replacing ribbons of each color as the ribbon 23. However, a single ribbon with the colors cyan, magenta, and yellow formed in a rotating order could also be used.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram functionally illustrating a portion of this control section related to the ribbon remaining amount warning.

The input control unit 81 determines whether the key data from the input device (keyboard) 1 is a character code, format data such as formatting information, warning ribbon remaining amount setting instruction data, cursor movement instruction data, etc. The input key data is sent to each part according to the determination result.

The character editing section 82 takes in character data input from the input device 1 and stores this character data and the character data storage area 8.
Insertion and deletion of characters as necessary based on the character data after the gI collection imported from 3.

After processing such as addition, the processed character data is stored in the character data storage area 83.

The format editing unit 84 takes in the format 1 data such as the key line and the longevity ceremony information input from the input device 1, and
Based on this format data and the format data stored in the format data storage area 85, the format is updated, added, etc. as necessary, and the processed format data is stored in the format data storage area 85.

The display control section 86 receives character data from the character editing section 82, format data from the format editing section 84, a message from the warning ribbon remaining amount setting section (described later), a warning message from the print control section 90, etc. , the received character data are converted into character font (pattern) data by the character font storage area 87 and displayed on the display device (liquid crystal display device) 2.

The warning ribbon remaining amount setting section 8 displays a message for setting the warning ribbon remaining amount on the display device 2 via the display control section 8B when a warning ribbon remaining amount setting instruction is input from the input device 1. Then, the warning ribbon remaining amount inputted from the input device 1 is taken in and stored internally.

When the print control unit 90 receives a print instruction from the input device 1, it reads character data from the character data storage area 83, converts it into character font data (pattern data) using the character font storage area 87, and converts the character data into character font data (pattern data). The font data is expanded according to the format read from the format data storage area 85 and sent to the print data buffer 91. The printing device (printer) 3 reads the data from this print data buffer 91 and prints it.

Further, this print control unit 90 controls the line feed operation by giving a line feed instruction to a line feed (LF) control unit 92 every time the printing device 3 finishes printing one line, and feeds the paper one line at a time.
Move the line forward. Furthermore, when character data is read from the character data storage area 83 and the character data is a space code, and the space codes are read out continuously, the print data buffer 91
Directly give a carriage movement instruction to the space (sp) control unit 93 to move the carriage 6 at a time without setting
9 to the required position.

Furthermore, this print control section 90 provides ribbon usage information indicating the feed amount of the ribbon 23 when the print head 83 is fed in a press-contact state to the ribbon remaining amount counting section 94, and sends a warning message from the ribbon remaining amount counting section 94. When a ribbon display request is received, a ribbon remaining amount warning message is displayed on the display device 2 via the display control section 8B.

The remaining ribbon amount counting unit 94 counts the remaining amount of ribbon based on the ribbon usage information from the print control unit 91 and the total length of the ribbon 23 held in advance, and the remaining amount of ribbon as this count value is used as a warning ribbon remaining amount. When the remaining amount of ribbon reaches the set amount from the 8th day, the amount setting section notifies the printing control section 90 accordingly.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to FIG. 6 and subsequent figures.

First, when the warning ribbon remaining amount setting mode key 12 attached to the keyboard (input device) 1 is pressed, the warning ribbon remaining amount setting process shown in FIG. 6 is entered, and a warning ribbon remaining amount setting message is first displayed. After that, the current setting warning ribbon remaining amount information stored in the internal warning ribbon remaining amount storage area (this area is composed of non-volatile memory) is imported, and the current setting warning ribbon remaining amount in the message is reversed. indicate. For example, as shown in FIG.
The message 1m 2m 3m 4m 5mJ is displayed, and at this time, the current setting warning ribbon remaining amount is “5m
”, this character string “5m” is displayed in reverse (indicated by a square frame in the figure).

Then, it is determined whether or not the key input from the keyboard 1 has completed the warning ribbon remaining amount setting, and if the warning ribbon remaining amount setting has not been completed, the specified warning ribbon remaining amount is compared with the currently set warning ribbon remaining amount. It is determined whether or not the remaining amount of warning ribbon has been changed, and if the remaining amount of warning ribbon has been changed, the currently set remaining amount of warning ribbon stored in the remaining amount of warning ribbon storage area is rewritten. For example, if the currently set warning ribbon remaining amount is "5m" as shown in Figure 9,
”, for example, the warning ribbon remaining amount is “3m”.
When ``3m'' is input, this new warning ribbon remaining amount "3m" is stored in the warning ribbon remaining amount storage area, and the character string "3m" is displayed in reverse video as shown in FIG.

Next, when the print key 11 of the keyboard 1 is pressed, the print process shown in FIG. The format data is expanded into memory for one line.

Then, the process of importing character data from the character data storage area 83 and arranging it according to the format data is repeated, and after arranging one line of characters according to the format data, the arranged character data is transferred to the character font storage area 87. By repeating the process of converting the data into character font data and placing it in the print data buffer 91, one line of character font data is placed in the print data buffer 91 as print data.

After that, a print start instruction is given to the printer (printing device) 3 to start printing the print data in the print data buffer 91, and wait for the end of the printing operation of one line of print data. At this time, the message "Printing in progress" is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 2, as shown in FIG. 11, for example.

Then, when printing for one line is completed, the ribbon length (bond length to be used) used in printing for that one line is divided into the number of printed characters in that line and the number of dots per character (the size of the characters). Based on the ribbon length conversion rate of the number of dots per character (1, for example, a = number of printed characters x (24 + printing pitch) Xo, 141
Find it by calculating.

Then, based on the calculated consumed ribbon length a and the cumulative ribbon consumption TR up to that point, a new cumulative ribbon consumption TR after the current printing is calculated (TR←TR+a), and this cumulative ribbon consumption TR is ( It is determined whether the total ribbon winding amount - warning ribbon remaining amount = MR) or more (TR≧MR) is reached.

At this time, TR≧MR or more and the cumulative ribbon consumption T
When R becomes equal to or greater than (total ribbon winding amount - warning ribbon remaining amount), that is, when the remaining ribbon amount reaches a preset remaining amount, the liquid crystal display device 2 displays a message such as "!" as shown in FIG. 12, for example. The message "Ribbon is finished. 5 meters left" is displayed, and it is determined whether the continue key or the ribbon exchange key attached to the keyboard 1 has been pressed.

Then, when the ribbon exchange key is pressed, the ribbon exchange process described later is performed, and the key press of the continue key is waited for again. When the continue key is pressed, the print line is incremented (+1) L, and it is checked whether printing is finished or not. If the printing is not completed, the above-described process is repeatedly executed until the printing is completed.

Next, regarding the ribbon replacement process, as shown in FIG. 8, first, the carriage 69 is moved to the center to make it easier to replace the ribbon, and then, for example, "Did you replace the ribbon? J" is displayed on the liquid crystal display device 2. , when there is a key input indicating that the ribbon has been replaced, the cumulative ribbon consumption amount TR is reset to rOJ and the process returns to the printing process as described above.

In this way, by displaying a warning message when the remaining amount of ribbon reaches a preset amount of ribbon, it is less likely that the ribbon will come to an end during printing and that the ribbon will have to be replaced.

That is, for example, the amount of ribbon used differs greatly between when printing normal characters as shown in FIG. 14(A) and when printing enlarged characters as shown in FIG. 14(B). In this case, if the ribbon end is detected, the ribbon end will be detected during enlarged character printing, and even if the ribbon is replaced, it is difficult to print accurately from the middle of the character. - If the end is detected and displayed, it will be less likely that the ribbon will run out in the middle of printed characters. Therefore, for safety's sake, ribbons can be replaced early and ribbons are not wasted and ribbons are not wasted. Ribbons can be used more effectively, and there is no need to print while visually checking the amount of ribbon remaining, which improves operability. .

In this way, in this printing device, a warning is displayed when the remaining ribbon length reaches a predetermined ribbon length, so that the printer can stop and replace the ribbon when the appropriate amount of ribbon remains. This improves operability, eliminates printing failures, and eliminates wasted paper.

In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the total amount of ribbon winding is a fixed value, but there are cases where the total amount of ribbon winding is unknown. In such cases.

For example, by inputting the total number of printed characters attached to the ribbon, a means may be provided to convert it into the total ribbon winding amount, or a means may be provided to issue a ribbon remaining amount warning using the number of printed characters instead of the ribbon winding amount. This makes it possible to perform the above-mentioned ribbon remaining amount warning for various ribbons.

In addition, in the above embodiment, an example was described in which the present invention was implemented in a thermal transfer printer as a printing device of a document production device, but it can also be implemented in a receive/on-queue (R10) printer, or a one-time use printer such as a type printer. It can be implemented on all printing devices that use ribbons that cannot be reused.

Effects As explained above, according to the present invention, operability can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a portion related to a ribbon remaining amount warning display in an embodiment of the present invention. Part 2: A perspective view of an external appearance showing an example of a production device equipped with the printing device. Figs. 3 and 4 are a plan view and a side view of an example of a ribbon cassette used in the printing device. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the control section, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are flowcharts showing examples of warning ribbon remaining amount setting processing, printing processing, and ribbon replacement processing executed by the control section. FIGS. 9 to 14 are explanatory diagrams for explaining each process. 1... Input device 2... Display device 3...
Printing device 8th... Warning ribbon remaining amount setting section 91...
・Print control section 94... Ribbon remaining amount counting section Fig. 8
Figure 9 Figure μ (A) Written amendment for Ramen procedure (0) January 9, 1988 Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office Kuro 1) Akio Yu 1.5G Indication Patent Application No. 1981-276675 2, Invention Name printing device 3, relationship with the amended person case Patent applicant 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo (674) Rico Co., Ltd. - 46 Agent (Telephone 986-2380) Toshima, Tokyo 1-20-5, Higashiikebukuro, Ward 5, Subject of amendment 6, Contents of amendment (1) From page 6, line 19 to page 7, line 9 of the specification [Also,
Dissociate from... ” has been amended as follows. In addition, the microcomputer 51 outputs line feed drive data via r106?, drives and controls the line feed motor 65 via the driver 64 to move the platen 66, and further outputs space drive data. The space feed motor 68 is driven and controlled via the driver 67 to rotate the carriage and feed the paper.Furthermore, it outputs head up/down drive data and outputs the head up/down drive data via the driver 73. The down motor 4 is driven and controlled to move the print head 63 to the platen 66.
dissociate upwards. ” (2) “Print control unit 91Jl” on page 11, line 4 of the same book is corrected to “Print control unit 90.” (3) Change the “formatsu data” on page 13, line 6 of the same book to “
Format data”. (4) "Ribbon end" on page 15, line 18 of the same book.
Correct it to "become the ribbon end". (5) "91" on page 18, line 17 of the same book is corrected to "SO". that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing device that uses a ribbon that cannot be reused once it has been used, characterized by comprising a ribbon remaining amount warning display means that displays a warning when the remaining amount of the ribbon reaches a predetermined amount. printing device.