KR100334322B1 - Apparatus for film-residual of thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, a thermal transfer printing apparatus capable of displaying a film remaining amount information by detecting a residual amount of a thermal transfer film based on a rotational speed of a roller on which a film is wound in a thermal transfer printing apparatus for printing data using a thermal transfer film. An apparatus for detecting a film remaining amount of a film, comprising: recording paper being conveyed by driving a step motor, printing predetermined data on a printing material of a film, printing data on the recording paper, and an inner peripheral edge of a roller for winding the film; Printing means for generating a predetermined period of detection signal corresponding to the remaining amount of the film wound on the roller by installing a holder having holes formed at regular intervals along with an optical sensor operated through the holes of the holder, and the number of driving steps of the step motor Film remaining amount information storing means for storing film remaining amount information corresponding to the display means, display means for displaying and displaying film remaining amount information And counting the number of step motor driving steps during the period based on the detection signal applied from the printing means, and retrieving the film remaining amount information stored in the film remaining amount information storing means based on the counted one-step driving step number. Then, it characterized in that it comprises a control means for controlling to display and output the retrieved film residual amount information through the display means.

Description

Apparatus for film-residual of thermal printer

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing machine, and in particular, in a thermal transfer printing apparatus which prints data using a thermal transfer film, the remaining amount of the thermal transfer film is detected based on the rotational speed of the roller on which the film is wound, and the film remaining amount information The present invention relates to a film residual amount detection device of a thermal transfer printing machine that can be displayed.

In general, a thermal transfer machine is a thermal printing machine, such as a thermal fax machine or a bank waiting machine, to heat and record data. A toner is used for a laser printing machine and an ink for an ink printing machine. As is used, a thermal transfer film is used in a thermal transfer printing apparatus.

On the other hand, the thermal transfer printing method is a method of printing by fusion / compression of predetermined data on the recording paper by applying heat to the printing material of the film using a thermal printing head (TPH).

In this case, the film used in the thermal transfer printing method is a consumable used in printing, and when the film is exhausted, the printing operation of the data is stopped. Therefore, the thermal transfer printing apparatus recognizes the remaining amount of the film in advance and prints the data. It is necessary to prevent this from being interrupted.

Thus, conventionally, in order to detect whether the film is exhausted or the residual amount,

(1) a method in which a reflective sensor is formed as an end mark on a certain residual portion of the film to detect whether or not the film is consumed by detecting the end mark;

(2) a method in which a certain residual amount of the film is made of a transparent material and the film is detected by detecting the transparent material;

(3) A predetermined lever is attached to a roll for winding the film so that the lever is lowered by gravity as the residual film is exhausted, and the film is consumed based on the change in the position of the lever. A method for detecting is applied and used.

However, in the case of the first method including the reflective sensor and the second method in which a certain residual amount of the film is made of a transparent material, continuous residual amount is difficult to detect, and a specially manufactured expensive film cannot be used conventionally. There is a problem of using a film.

Also, in the third method of attaching the lever to the film roll, the continuous residual amount can be detected, but it is difficult to detect the lever position in the control means for controlling the overall operation of the thermal transfer printing machine, and thus the indication of the film remaining amount There is a problem that the precision is lowered.

Thus, the present invention can continuously detect the residual amount of the print film in the thermal transfer printing machine, it is possible to use the thermal transfer film generally used as it is, the film residual amount of the thermal transfer printing machine having a good display accuracy with respect to the remaining film The object is to provide a detection device.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the main components of a thermal transfer printing machine according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the thermal transfer recording section 2c in the printing section 2 shown in FIG.

3 is an operation flowchart for explaining the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG.

*** Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawing ***

1: reading unit, 2: printing unit,

2a: step motor, 2b: motor drive part,

2c: thermal transfer recorder, 3: control unit,

4: program storage, 5: film remaining information storage,

6: Display part.

In the film residual amount detection apparatus of the thermal transfer printing apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object, the recording paper is transferred by the driving of the step motor, and prints the data on the recording paper by printing predetermined data on the printing material of the film. In addition, a holder having holes formed at regular intervals along the inner circumference of the roller for winding the film and an optical sensor operated through the holes of the holder are installed to detect detection signals of a predetermined period corresponding to the remaining amount of the film wound on the roller. On the basis of the printing means generated, the film remaining amount information storing means for storing film remaining amount information corresponding to the number of driving steps of the step motor, the display means for displaying and displaying the film remaining amount information, and the detection signal applied from the printing means. The number of step motor driving steps for one cycle is counted, and the film remaining amount is based on the counted number of driving steps in one cycle. And retrieving the film residual amount information stored in the information storage means, and controlling the display means to display and output the retrieved film residual amount information through the display means.

That is, according to the above, it is not only possible to detect the continuous film remaining amount in the thermal transfer printing apparatus with a simple configuration by using the general thermal transfer film, but also to display the film remaining amount information through the display means, so that the user can easily By recognizing the remaining amount of film, it is possible to prevent the problem that the data cannot be printed due to the exhaustion of the film.

Next, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing the main parts of a thermal transfer printing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In Fig. 1, reference numeral 1 is a reading unit that reads the contents recorded on the document and converts them into electrical signals, and 2 is a printing unit which prints image data on the recording paper, which is a roll on which the recording paper is wound (not shown). The data content is recorded on the recording sheet by a high temperature through the step motor 2a for moving the step motor 2a, the motor driving part 2b for driving the step motor 2b, and the thermal transfer head TPH and the printing material of the film. And a thermal transfer recording section 2c which generates a predetermined detection signal for the remaining amount of the film consumed as the data contents are printed on the recording paper.

Further, reference numeral 3 denotes a control unit which controls and adjusts each block of the system to control the operation of the apparatus as a whole, which counts the driving step number of the step motor 2a of the printing unit 2, and this driving step number On the basis of the information and the film remaining amount detection signal applied from the thermal transfer recording section 2c of the printing section 2, the display section 6 is read by reading the detected information stored in the film remaining amount information storing section 5 to be described later. It is controlled to output the remaining amount information through.

On the other hand, reference numeral 4 is a program storage unit for storing a program for controlling various functions and operations, such as thermal transfer printing operation of the data by the control unit 3, 5 is a step motor (2) in the printing unit (2); A film remaining amount information storing unit for storing information corresponding to the film remaining amount according to the number of driving steps of 2a), and 6 is a display unit for displaying the operating state of the thermal transfer printing machine, in particular, the film remaining amount information.

2 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the thermal transfer recording section 2c in the printing section 2 shown in FIG.

That is, as shown in Fig. 2, the thermal transfer recording unit 2c is provided with a first roller 30 and a second roller 31 at predetermined intervals, and the first roller 30 and the second roller ( 31 is connected through the film 302, so that the film 302 wound on the first roller 30 at a predetermined speed is released to be wound on the second roller 31 according to the driving of the step motor 2a. It is composed.

Here, the first roller 30 is composed of a film core 301 for winding the film 302, and a holder 303 for holding the frame of the film 302 wound on the film core 301, In the inner circumference of the holder 303, predetermined holes are formed at regular intervals.

On the other hand, the light emitting element 32 and the light receiving element 33 are provided at portions spaced apart from both sides of the holder 303 of the first roller 30 by the light emitting element 32 and the light receiving element 33. Is installed to correspond to both sides of the hole 304 of the holder 303, so that the light generated from the light emitting element 32 through the hole 304 of the holder 303 is configured to be received by the light receiving element 33 do.

In addition, between the first roller 30 and the second roller 31, a drum 34 and a thermal transfer head 35 for printing predetermined data on the recording paper 36 in a thermal transfer method are provided. ) And corresponding to both sides of the film 302 existing between the second roller 31.

Next, the operation of the apparatus having the configuration of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When predetermined data to be printed is received in the normal standby state (ST1), the control unit 3 controls the printing unit 2 to perform control according to the printing operation (ST2). Same as

That is, in the printing section 2, the step motor 2a is driven by the control signal applied from the control section 3, and thus the drum 34 rotates at a constant speed, thereby guiding the recording paper and the first roller. When the film wound on 30 is unwound at a constant linear velocity V ₀ , the film unwound from the first roller 30 is guided by the drum 34 and wound on the second roller 31. At this time, as the film wound on the first roller 30 is released, the radius r of the film wound on the first roller 30 becomes small, and the rotational angular velocity ω of the holder 303 increases. . That is, as the film is released, the rotation speed of the holder 303 of the first roller 30 is increased. Then, light generated from the light emitting element 32 provided at both ends of the holder 303 outside of the first roller 30 passes through the hole 304 formed in the holder 303 of the first roller 301. As a result, the output voltage conversion signal having a predetermined period is generated according to whether the light generated from the light emitting element 32 of the light receiving element 33 is received.

In other words, as the film is released from the first roller 301 and the amount of film remaining is reduced, the rotation speed of the holder 303 is increased, and thus, the hole 304 of the holder 303 in the light receiving element 33. Through the reception of the generated light of the light emitting device 32 is faster, the period of the detection signal generated by the light receiving device 33 becomes shorter and shorter, the rotational speed of the roller on which the film is wound by this detection signal period Will be measured.

On the other hand, although not shown, the output terminal of the light receiving element 33 in the printing unit 2 is coupled to the control unit 3, the output voltage conversion signal generated from the light receiving element 33, that is, the detection signal is a control unit ( 3) to be applied.

Subsequently, the control unit 3 counts the change in the output voltage applied from the light receiving element 33 of the printing unit 2, that is, the detection signal and the number of steps of driving the step motor 2a of the printing unit 2 based on this. The film residual amount information storage unit 5 retrieves the residual amount information (ST3).

That is, the control unit 3 changes the output voltage applied from the light receiving element 33 of the printing unit 2, for example, the period in which the output voltage is changed from high to low, or in low. The number of steps of the step motor is counted during the period of high conversion, and the film remaining amount information storage unit 5 retrieves the film remaining amount information corresponding to the counted step number.

Thereafter, the controller 3 determines whether the current film residual amount retrieved from the film residual amount information storage unit 5 is less than or equal to the predetermined value (ST4), and if it is determined that the film residual amount is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the display unit 6 is determined. Through the control to display the remaining amount information (ST5). For example, the control unit 3 controls the display unit 6 to send a warning sound, drive a warning display unit LED, or output a text message such as 'film replacement request' when the film residual amount is less than or equal to a predetermined value. do.

That is, according to the above, it is provided with a holder having holes formed at regular intervals along the inner circumference of the roller for winding the film, and installed an optical sensor on the outside of the holder, the light sensor is configured to be driven through the hole of the holder As a result, the number of driving steps of the step motor during one output period of the optical sensor due to film consumption is counted to measure the film remaining amount of the thermal transfer printing apparatus.

Therefore, it is possible to detect the continuous film residual amount in the thermal transfer printing machine with a simple configuration, it is possible to use the existing thermal transfer film as it is.

In addition, by displaying the film residual amount information through the display means, the user can easily recognize the film residual amount to prevent the problem that the data can not be printed due to the exhaustion of the film.

On the other hand, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified in various ways without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

That is, the present invention can be applied to a thermal transfer printing apparatus using a thermal transfer film.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the display unit is driven when the remaining amount of the film is equal to or less than a predetermined value, but the film remaining amount may be continuously displayed by displaying information corresponding to the remaining amount of film, for example, the film remaining percentage (%). have.

As described above, according to the present invention, not only the continuous film remaining amount can be detected in the thermal transfer printing apparatus using a general thermal transfer film but also the film remaining amount information is displayed through the display means. It is possible to easily recognize the film remaining amount to prevent the problem that the data is not printed due to the exhausted film.

Claims (6)

delete delete delete delete The recording paper is transported by the driving of the step motor, printing predetermined data on the printing material of the film to print the data on the recording paper, and holders having holes formed at regular intervals along the inner circumference of the roller for winding the film. And printing means for installing an optical sensor operated through the hole of the holder to generate a detection signal of a predetermined period corresponding to the remaining amount of the film wound on the roller; Film remaining amount information storing means for storing film remaining amount information corresponding to the number of driving steps of the step motor; Display means for displaying and outputting film remaining amount information; Counting the number of step motor driving steps for a period based on the detection signal applied from the printing means, and retrieving the film remaining amount information stored in the film remaining amount information storing means based on the counted one-step driving step number And a control means for controlling the displayed film remaining amount information to be displayed and outputted through the display means. The method of claim 5, The printing means is located between a drum driven by a step motor, a thermal transfer head which is located opposite to the drum and writes predetermined data on a recording paper which is guided as the drum is rotated, and is located between the drum and the thermal transfer head. A film used as a material for recording data on recording paper, and first and second rollers for winding the film are installed on both sides of the drum and the heat transfer head to be wound around the first roller by driving the drum. The film is configured to be wound on a second roller while being unwound at a constant speed, and the first roller has a holder formed along the inner circumference at regular intervals with predetermined holes on the outside of the film core for winding the film. Characterized in that the light emitting element and the light receiving element is installed so as to face each of the outside of the holder so that a predetermined signal is transmitted and received through the hole of the holder Film residual amount detection device of thermal transfer printing machine.