JPS6359583A - Printer and ink ribbon cartridge therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent interruption of printing operation in the way of a line, by constructing a printer such that it is stopped after the final character in a page under printing or in a random line is printed even if the end side of an ink ribbon is detected during printing. CONSTITUTION:When a transparent base layer 29a at a used end ink ribbon 29 of an ink ribbon 28 in an ink ribbon cartridge 24 is detected by means of a ribbon end sensor 21 during specific printing operation, an end detection signal is fed to an I/O port 20. Consequently, the I/O port 20 feeds a signal for stopping the printing operation with predetermined timing to a control circuit 11. The control circuit 11 continues printing to the final character in a page under printing or in a random line, then feeds stop signals to a print head drive circuit 16 and a motor drive control circuit 18 so as to stop them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a printing device used as an external output means for personal computers, word processors, etc., and an ink ribbon cartridge used in this printing device.

(Prior Art) In recent years, with the rapid spread of personal computers, word processors, etc., various types of printing devices have been developed. Among such printing devices, thermal transfer printing devices, which have high printing quality and do not cause problems such as noise, are becoming increasingly popular.

This thermal transfer type printing device brings a group of heating resistor elements of the print head into contact with an ink ribbon coated with heat-melting ink, and the ink is melted dot by dot by the heat generated by each heating resistor element. , is configured to represent characters, figures, etc. with groups of dots.

The following types of ink ribbon cartridges are used in this printing device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a conventional printing device and an ink ribbon cartridge, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge.

In FIG. 5, 1 indicates a print head.

An ink ribbon cartridge 2 is removably attached to the print head 1. The cartridge main body 3 of the ink ribbon cartridge 2 is formed in the shape of an open mouth, and a supply reel 4 and a take-up reel 5 are rotatably disposed within the cartridge main body 3.

As shown in FIG. 6, the supply reel 4 includes an ink ribbon 6, which has an ink layer 6b formed on a non-transparent base layer 6a and a translucent tape 6C connected to the end thereof. The tape 6C is wound on the inner circumferential side. The tip of this ink ribbon 6 is connected to the arm portion 3a of the cartridge main body 3.
It is fixed to the take-up reel 5 via. Further, an insertion hole 3b is formed in the vicinity of the supply reel 4 of the cartridge main body 3, into which a ribbon end sensor 7 for detecting a translucent tip 76C on the end side of the ink ribbon 6 is inserted. The ribbon end sensor 7 inserted into the insertion hole 3b is, for example, an optical sensor consisting of a light emitting element and a light receiving element.

In the printing device and ink ribbon cartridge configured in this way, the ink ribbon 6 is fed from the supply reel 4 to the print head 1 side via the arm portion 3a, and after printing is performed, the ink ribbon 6 is wound up. It is wound on reel 5. After that, when the translucent tape 6c on the end side of the ink ribbon 6 is detected by the ribbon end sensor 7 of the printing device, the printing operation is immediately stopped, and an alarm lamp or the like (not shown) is displayed to indicate that printing is not possible. It is now possible to

However, in the printing device and ink ribbon cartridge configured in this way, when the ribbon end sensor 7 detects the translucent tip 16c on the end side of the ink ribbon 6, the printing operation of the printing device is immediately stopped. The problem was that the printing operation was interrupted in the middle of the middle line. Therefore, there is a problem in that various controls of the printing device become complicated due to the interruption of the printing operation.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.
A printing device capable of detecting the end of an ink ribbon without hindrance to printing operations, and capable of stopping printing operations after printing up to the last character of the page being printed or the last character of an arbitrary line; and The purpose of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cartridge for use in this device.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) A printing device of the present invention includes a printing means having a printing head,
An ink ribbon cartridge has an ink ribbon for termination, in which an ink layer is formed on a translucent base layer on the termination side of the ink ribbon, and an ink ribbon disposed on the side of the used ink ribbon on which printing has been performed by the print head. An end detection means for detecting a translucent base layer on the end side of the ribbon, and when the end end detection means detects the end end of the ink ribbon, the printing operation is stopped after printing up to the last character of an arbitrary line. and a printing control means for controlling the printing means.

Further, the ink ribbon cartridge used in the printing device of the present invention includes an ink ribbon having a terminating ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on a translucent base layer on the terminating end side, and a terminating ink ribbon having a terminating ink ribbon formed on the translucent base layer. A supply reel wound on the inner circumferential side, a take-up reel for winding up the used ink ribbon fed out from the supply reel and printed on, and a take-up reel for rotatably supporting the supply reel and take-up reel and for winding the used ink ribbon. The cartridge body is provided with an insertion hole formed on the take-up reel side for inserting an end detection device for detecting the used end ink ribbon, and is configured to be detachably attached to a printing device. .

(Function) By the above means, the present invention can detect the end of the ink ribbon without causing any trouble to the printing operation, and moreover, after printing up to the last character of the page currently being printed or the last character of any arbitrary line. Printing operation can be stopped.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, 11 is a control circuit (CPU) that controls the entire device, 12 is a ROM in which each control program is written, 13 is a RAM partially used as a line buffer, and 14 is a character to be printed. and a character generator in which symbol printing patterns are stored, 15
1 is a print buffer that outputs the print pattern from the character generator 14 as head pin data; 16 is a print head drive circuit that drives the print head 17 based on the head pin data of the print buffer 15; 18 is a carriage motor M1 and a paper feed motor A motor drive control circuit that drives M2 and the ink ribbon motor M3, 19 an interface corresponding to the above-mentioned host system, 20 an I10 port connected to the system bus, and 21 a ribbon end sensor that detects the end of the ink ribbon. , 22 is a paper sensor that detects the end of the paper, 23
is an operation panel that displays various printing operations.

2 and 3 are diagrams for explaining a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention and an ink ribbon cartridge used in this device, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge. It is.

In these figures, 17 indicates the print head described in FIG. An ink ribbon cartridge 24 is removably attached to the print head 17.

The cartridge main body 25 of this ink ribbon cartridge 24 is formed in the shape of an opening, and has arm portions 25a, 25.
a is formed. Further, within the cartridge body 25, a supply reel 26 and a take-up reel 27 are rotatably disposed. As shown in FIG. 4, on the supply reel 26, an ink layer 28b is formed on a non-transparent base layer 28a, and an ink layer 29b is formed on a transparent base layer 29a on the end side thereof. Formed end ink ribbon 29
The ink ribbon 28 to which the ink ribbon 28 is connected is wound with the end ink ribbon 29 facing toward the inner circumferential side. Further, the tip of the ink ribbon 28 is attached to the arm portion 2 of the cartridge main body 25.
5a and passes through the print head 17 side to the take-up reel 27.
is fixed.

Further, a ribbon end sensor 21 is inserted into the take-up reel 27 side of the cartridge body 25 to detect the translucent base layer 29a of the end ink ribbon 29 on the end end side of the used ink ribbon 28 on which printing has been performed. An insertion hole 25b is formed. As shown in FIG. 3, the ribbon end sensor 21 inserted into the insertion hole 25b is, for example, an optical sensor consisting of a light emitting element 21a and a light receiving element 21b.
When this ribbon end sensor 21 detects the translucent base layer 29a of the end ink ribbon 29 to which printing has been performed and the ink layer 29b has been transferred, the ribbon end sensor 21 detects the I1 shown in FIG.
A termination detection signal is output to port 20.

The printing device and ink ribbon cartridge configured as described above operate as follows.

First, the control circuit 11 inputs print data from the host system via the interface 19 according to the control program in the ROM 12 and develops it in the line buffer of the RAM 13. Then, a print pattern corresponding to this print data is extracted from the character generator 14, the extracted print pattern is input to the print buffer 15, and head pin data corresponding to this print pattern is output to the print head drive circuit 16 for printing. The radar 17 is operated and a predetermined printing operation is performed. At the same time, the control circuit 11
sends a drive signal to the motor drive control circuit 18 to operate the carriage motor M1 and paper feed motor M2 and also operate the ink ribbon motor M3 at predetermined timing.

During a predetermined printing operation, the ink ribbon 29 for the end of the ink ribbon 28 of the ink ribbon cartridge 24 is sent to the print head 17, and the ink layer 29b on the translucent base layer 29a is transferred to the paper. When the translucent base layer 29a of the used end ink ribbon 29 is detected by the ribbon end sensor 21, an end detection signal is sent to the I10 port 20. As a result, the I10 port 20 sends a stop signal to the control circuit 11 to stop the printing operation at a predetermined timing (after printing the last character of the page being printed or the last character of an arbitrary line). As a result, after the control circuit 11 has printed up to the last character of the page being printed or the last character of an arbitrary line, it sends a stop signal to the print head drive circuit 16 and motor drive control circuit 18 to stop them. At the same time, an ink ribbon end signal is sent from the control circuit 11 to the I10 port 20, and the operation panel 2 of the I10 port 20
3 indicates that the ink ribbon cartridge should be replaced.

Therefore, in the ink ribbon cartridge 24 used in the printing device of this embodiment, the end ink ribbon 29 connected to the end side of the ink ribbon 28 has a length corresponding to the maximum number of characters that can be printed on the paper used in this printing device. It is preferable to have a thin ink layer 29a.

In the printing device and ink ribbon cartridge of this embodiment, even if the terminal end of the ink ribbon is detected during printing,
Since the printing device is configured to stop after printing up to the last character of the page being printed or the last character of any line, the printing operation is not interrupted in the middle of a line, and this allows control of each part. It can also be done relatively easily.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the printing device of the present invention can detect the end of the ink ribbon without causing any hindrance to the printing operation, and can also detect the end of the ink ribbon on the page being printed or on any line. The printing operation can be stopped after printing up to the last character.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially sectional plan view showing a printing device according to an embodiment of the invention and an ink ribbon cartridge used in this device. Fig. 3 is a partially enlarged oblique view of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a side sectional view for explaining the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a conventional printing device and ink ribbon cartridge. A partially sectional plan view showing
6 is a side cross-sectional view for explaining the ink ribbon used in the ink ribbon cartridge of FIG. 5. FIG. 11... Control circuit 16... Print head drive circuit 17...
...Print head 20...I10 port 21...Ribbon end sensor 24...
...Ink ribbon cartridge 25...
Cartridge body 25b Insertion hole 26 Supply reel 27 Take-up reel 28 Ink Ribbon 29... Termination ink ribbon 29a...
...Translucent base layer 29b...Ink layer Applicant: Toshiba Corporation Patent attorney Satoshi Suyama - Fig. 2 Fig. 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) an ink ribbon cartridge having a printing means having a print head and a termination ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on a translucent base layer on the termination side of the ink ribbon;
a termination detection means for detecting a translucent base layer on the termination side of the ink ribbon, which is disposed on the used ink ribbon on which printing has been performed by the print head; and a termination detection means for detecting the termination side of the ink ribbon. 1. A printing device comprising: printing control means for controlling said printing means so as to stop the printing operation after printing up to the last character of an arbitrary line when the printer prints. (2) An ink ribbon having a termination ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on a translucent base layer on the termination side, and a supply reel wound with this ink ribbon with the termination ink ribbon on the inner circumferential side. a take-up reel that winds up the used ink ribbon that has been sent out from the supply reel and has been printed; and a take-up reel that rotatably supports the supply reel and the take-up reel, and the used end ink ribbon on the take-up reel side. An ink ribbon cartridge comprising: a cartridge body having an insertion hole formed therein for inserting an end detection device for detecting the ink ribbon, and configured to be removably attached to a printing device.