KR101486326B1 - Printer capable of precise transport of media - Google Patents

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a printer for enabling the precise transport of media, which prevents the generation of an un-printed area by precisely transporting printing media and improves tear-off after printing. Therefore, the present invention enables the efficient use of media and printing by preventing the generation of an un-printed area and improves a tear-off work after printing by precisely transporting printing media. The printer comprises: a cartridge which receives media; a printer body which receives the cartridge; a cover part which is installed on the top of the printer body; a media front detection sensor which detects the front end of the media drawn out of the cartridge; and a control part.

Description

[0001] PRINTER CAPABLE OF PRECISE TRANSPORT OF MEDIA [0002]

The present invention relates to a printer capable of accurately transferring media, and more particularly to a printer capable of precisely transferring a medium to be printed, preventing the occurrence of an unprinted area, Printer.

As is well known, a thermal transfer printer refers to a printer in which heat is applied to a thermal transfer ribbon coated with a dye to transfer the dye on the thermal transfer ribbon to a recording medium to be fixed.

Such a thermal transfer printer is classified into a sublimation type thermal transfer system in which a dye is sublimated and a fusion type thermal transfer system in which a dye is transferred by being melted by a thermal recording head in accordance with a thermal transfer method of a dye.

Fig. 1 is a conventional thermal transfer printer. In Fig. 1, a ribbon cartridge 4 is detachably installed inside a housing 2 of a printer shown in Fig. 1, and a cassette 20 on which a photo paper is loaded is detachably mounted on one side of the printer .

The ribbon cartridge 4 is a frame for receiving the ink ribbon 6. The ribbon cartridge 4 includes a supply reel 8 for uncoiling and feeding the ink ribbon 6 during printing and a take-up reel 10 for winding up the used ink ribbon, As shown in Fig.

Here, the ink ribbon 6 has a three-color dye layer of yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) capable of being activated by heat, and an overcoat layer for coating , And the edge is printed with a code to allow the printer to identify the color.

Above the inner end of the cassette 20 on which the photo paper is stacked, the paper feed roller 30 is mounted on the upper end of the lever 32, the lower end of which is supported in the main body,

A capstan 34, which is capable of rotating by a power source (not shown), is provided inside the paper feed roller 30 so as to be opposed to the pinch roller 36.

On the other hand, a thermally sensitive recording head TPH (38) is fixedly installed on the inner side of the capstan (34) and the pinch roller (36).

A platen 40 is attached to an upper end of a lift lever 42 which is pivotally supported in the main body and is vertically elevated and lowered under the thermal recording head 38.

In such a printer, when a print command is input, the lever 32 rotates in the clockwise direction around the hinge at the lower end so that the paper feed roller 30 rotates clockwise, and the paper feed roller 30 contacts the photo paper Whereby one sheet of the photo paper 12 loaded on the cassette 20 is conveyed between the capstan 34 and the pinch roller 36. [

The feeding of the photo paper 12 is stopped immediately before the paper is discharged to the outlet 44 provided on the opposite side of the cassette 20. When the feeding of the photo paper 12 is completed and the lift lever 42 is rotated, The capstan 34 and the supply reel 8 and the take-up reel 10 are rotated while the ink ribbon 6 and the photo paper 12 are sandwiched between the thermally sensitive recording heads 38 38 are heated and yellow (Y) color printing is started.

When printing of the yellow (Y) color is completed, the platen 40 is lowered and the photo paper is moved to the left side in the drawing, and magenta (M) color, cyan (C) The photo paper is ejected through the exit 44. [0052]

On the other hand, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0520578 discloses a printer having a photo paper roll on which a photo paper is wound, a supply reel on which an unused ink ribbon is wound, and a take-up reel on which an ink ribbon is wound, And a printer equipped with a capstan are disclosed, which are provided with a thermal recording head, a platen, a photo paper roll driving means for driving a photo paper roll wound with a photo paper, and a capstan .

The photo paper roll driving means rotates the photo paper roll in the forward and reverse directions to print various colors in a face sequential manner to drive the photo paper.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a conveying structure of a conventional thermal sublimation type printer, in which a conventional photo paper 50 wound in a roll form is pressed against the capstan roller 60 and the pinch roller 61, When the thermal paper 70 is brought into pressure contact with the thermal paper 50 by the thermal recording head 70 and the platen roller 71, the capstan roller 60 is rotated while the thermal recording head 70 selectively generates heat by predetermined print data, And the pinch roller 61 rotates at a predetermined speed to transfer the photo paper 50 and print an image on the photo paper 50. The ink ribbon 82 supplied from the ribbon supply reel 80 is fed to the post- And is wound on the take-up reel 81.

However, in such a conventional conveying apparatus, since the end of the photo paper 50 is pressed against the capstan roller 60 and the pinch roller 61 in order to perform printing, the unprinted area 51) is generated.

Since the photographic paper 50 is moved by the capstan roller 60 and the pinch roller 61, an unprinted area 51 'is also formed between the capstan roller 60 and the pinch roller 61 and the thermosensitive recording head 70, There is a problem in that a tear-off process is performed in which unprinted areas 50 and 51 are cut off separately after printing.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0520578

In order to solve such problems, the present invention aims to provide a printer capable of precisely feeding a medium to be printed, preventing the occurrence of an unprinted area, and precisely transporting the medium after the printing has been improved.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a printer capable of precise media transfer, comprising: a ribbon supply reel in which an unused ink ribbon is wound and a ribbon take-up reel in which an ink ribbon used for printing is wound; ; A first pinch roller, a second pinch roller, a first capstan roller, a second capstan roller, and a cartridge storage groove in which a platen roller is installed, A printer body having a media outlet for ejecting the media on one side; A lid unit installed on the upper portion of the printer body so as to be openable and closable and provided with a thermal recording head on one side; A media end detection sensor which is disposed on the printer body at a predetermined distance from the thermosensitive recording head and detects the leading end of the medium drawn out from the cartridge; And a controller for outputting a rotation signal to the first and second pinch rollers and the first and second capstan rollers until the media tip detecting sensor detects the media, And a control unit for controlling rotation of the first pinch roller and the first capstan roller so as to be conveyed by a predetermined distance to the printing nip (NIP) between the turn rollers.

The printer according to the present invention is further characterized by a barcode detecting sensor installed on the printer body and detecting a barcode of an ink ribbon supplied from the ribbon supply reel.

The first pinch roller and the first capstan roller are disposed opposite to each other. The second pinch roller and the second capstan roller are opposed to each other. The first pinch roller and the first capstan roller are disposed to face each other, Wherein the length L1 of the medium is arranged to be shorter than the length L2 of the medium. .

The present invention is advantageous in that it is possible to precisely convey a medium to be printed, thereby preventing the occurrence of an unprinted area and providing efficient use of media and printing.

Further, the present invention is advantageous in that the media can be precisely conveyed, and a separate tail-off operation can be improved after printing.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a conventional thermal sublimation type printer.
2 is a cross-sectional view showing a transfer structure of a conventional thermal sublimation printer.
3 is a perspective view showing a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention;
4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention.
5 is a view illustrating an arrangement of a pinch roller and a capstan roller of a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention.
6 is a block diagram showing a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of a printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a printer capable of precisely feeding a medium according to the present invention. FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the printer 200 capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention prevents the occurrence of an unprinted area of a medium to be printed and requires a separate tear-off operation after printing The printer body 210, the lid 220, the thermal recording head 230, the media supply roller 240, the first pinch roller 250, the second pinch roller 250, The first capstan roller 260, the second capstan roller 261, the platen roller 270, the barcode detection sensor 280, the media end detection sensor 290, the control unit 251, The thermal recording head 230 is installed in the lid unit 220 and the lid unit 220 is opened to replace the cartridge 100. When the cartridge 100 is detached from the printer 200 Lt; / RTI >

The cartridge 100 is configured to accommodate the ink ribbon and the printing medium in one integrated cartridge so that the user can easily set and mount a new cartridge or easily replace a mounted cartridge, The media storage part 120 having the printing medium 121 having a predetermined size is installed on one side of the housing 110 so as to be inclined so that the size of the cartridge 100 can be minimized, A ribbon take-up reel 130 in which an unused ink ribbon is wound and a ribbon take-up reel 140 which is spaced apart from the ribbon supply reel 130 by a predetermined distance to take up an ink ribbon used for printing are formed, 130 and the ribbon take-up reel 140 may be driven by separate motors and cams, or may be driven by interlocking with a motor that drives the pinch rollers and the like.

The cartridge 100 stores the model information of the media 121 housed in the media storage unit 120 on the outside of the cartridge housing 110 and the model information of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon supply reel 130 An antenna unit, and an RFID tag (not shown) including an RFID chip.

The media storage unit 120 includes a printing medium 121 having a predetermined length L2 therein and a media supply roller 121 for feeding the stored media 121 to the lower portion of the media storage unit 120. [ (Not shown) into which the media 121 are inserted, and a media supply port 123 through which the media 121 are drawn out.

The media 121 contained in the media storage unit 120 are stacked in a single sheet of media 121 having a predetermined size and are stacked one by one by the media supply roller 240, And the medium 121 is a photo paper of paper, a sheet of plastic material capable of bending deformation, a 3D lens sheet, or the like, preferably a photo paper of paper material.

The ribbon supply reel 130 is installed on the other side of the cartridge housing 110, and the ribbon supply reel 130 is wound with an unused ink ribbon.

The ribbon take-up reel 140 is installed on the other side of the cartridge housing 110 at a predetermined distance from the ribbon supply reel 130 so that the ink ribbon used for printing after being supplied from the ribbon supply reel 130 is wound do.

The printer body 210 is a square shaped member having an open top and a storage space therein so as to accommodate the cartridge 100 having the media 121 therein, A first pinch roller 250, a second pinch roller 251, a first capstan roller 260, a second capstan roller 261 and a platen (not shown) A cartridge storage groove 211 in which a roller 270, a barcode detection sensor 280, a media tip detection sensor 290 and a control unit 300 are installed and a media outlet 212 ).

The lid unit 220 is a square member that is openably and closably installed on the upper part of the printer body 210. A thermal recording head 230 is installed on one side of the lid unit 220, The thermosensitive recording head 230 is installed between the ribbon supply reel 130 and the ribbon take-up reel 140 of the cartridge 100.

The thermosensitive recording head 230 is installed on the lid 200 so as to be rotatable about a rotating hinge and covers the ribbon supply reel 130 and the ribbon take-up reel 130 of the cartridge 100 when the lid 200 is covered. 140 so as to contact the platen roller 270 fixed to the printer body 210 so as to perform printing through the ink ribbon on the medium 121 to apply pressure required for printing to the ink ribbon and the medium 121 Pressure.

The media supply roller 240 is installed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 so as to be disposed below the media roller insertion port drilled in the lower portion of the cartridge 100 so that the media 121 contained in the cartridge 100 is inserted into the media supply port 123 so that the drawn media 121 is fed between the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260. [

The first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 are installed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 so as to be disposed at one side of the media supply port 123 of the cartridge 100, The medium 121 drawn out of the cartridge 100 is rotated so as to be supplied between the thermal recording head 230 and the platen roller 270.

The second pinch roller 251 and the second capstan roller 261 are installed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 so as to be disposed on one side of the media outlet 212 and the printed media 121 is inserted into the media outlet 212. [ And rotates so as to be ejected to the outside of the printer body 210 through the ejection opening 210 or to rotate the media 121 to the inside of the printer body 210 for reprinting.

The length L1 between the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 251 and between the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 is the length And is arranged to have a length smaller than the length L2 to prevent the occurrence of an unprinted area in the medium 121. [

The bar code detecting sensor 280 detects the yellow color, the magenta color, the cyan color, and the ink ribbon leading end barcode of the coating layer, which are provided in the cartridge receiving groove 211 of the printer body 210 and supplied from the ribbon supply reel 130 do.

The media edge detection sensor 290 detects a leading end of the medium 121 that is installed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 of the printer body 210 and is drawn out from the cartridge 100 by a distance from the thermal recording head 230 do.

The control unit 300 controls the feeding and printing operations of the printer 200 mounted on the printer body 210 and controls the feeding and printing operations of the printer 200 until the media end detecting sensor 290 detects the leading end of the medium 121. [ And outputs a rotation signal to the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 when the media tip detecting sensor 290 detects the leading end of the medium 121. Then, The rotation of the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 is controlled so that the medium 121 is precisely conveyed by a predetermined distance to the print nip NIP between the media feed sensor 230 and the media edge detection sensor 290 Allowing the media 121 to be accurately positioned in the print nip.

The operation of the printer capable of precise feeding of media according to the present invention will now be described.

The cartridge 100 is placed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 with the lid 220 of the printer 200 being opened and the lid 220 is covered with the thermal recording head 230, And a platen roller 270 is disposed below the heat-sensitive recording head 230. The platen roller 270 is disposed between the ribbon supply reel 130 and the ribbon take-

A media supply roller 240 is disposed under the media roller insertion port of the media storage unit 120 and a first pinch roller 250 and a first capstan roller 250 are interposed between the media supply port 123 and the ribbon supply reel 130. [ The second pinch roller 251 and the second capstan roller 261 are disposed between the ribbon take-up reel 140 and the media discharge port 212. [

A bar code detection sensor 280 is provided between the ribbon take-up reel 140 and the thermal recording head 230. A bar code detecting sensor 280 is provided between the thermal recording head 230 and the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 A media edge detection sensor 290 is provided.

The control unit 300 rotates the ribbon take-up reel 140 in a state where the thermal recording head 230 is separated from the platen roller 270 to take up the ink ribbon supplied from the ribbon supply reel 130, The ink ribbon is wound up until the ink ribbon tip bar code of yellow color is detected through the ink ribbon 280.

The control unit 300 rotates the media supply roller 240 so that the media 121 stored in the media storage unit 120 is transported to the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 250. [ Roller 260 as shown in FIG.

The controller 300 controls the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 251 to rotate in the forward direction and the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 rotate, The first and second pinch rollers 250 and 251 and the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 move the media 121 to the media end detection sensor 290, (121) is detected.

The control unit 300 controls the rotation of the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 so that the media 121 is detected by the media tip detection sensor 290. [ (NiP) between the heat-sensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 by a predetermined distance.

When the medium 121 is inserted into the print nip between the thermal recording head 230 and the platen roller 270, the controller 300 closely contacts the thermal recording head 230 with the platen roller 270, The ink ribbon and the medium 121 between the recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 are pressurized to a predetermined pressure or more.

When printing is started, the controller 300 rotates the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 251, the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 at a constant speed, and the thermal recording head 230 And a ribbon take-up reel 140 is disposed on the medium 121 between the heat-sensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270. The heat-generating body of the heat-generating recording head 230 selectively generates heat in accordance with print data to print an image of yellow color on the medium 121, The ink ribbon is pulled out and separated from the medium 121 and wound.

The control unit 300 controls the rotation of the first and second pinch rollers 250 and 251 and the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 and the platen roller 270 And after the thermosensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 are separated from each other, the ribbon take-up roll 140 is driven until the ink ribbon bar code of the next index magenta color is detected by the bar code detecting sensor 280 The ink ribbon is wound.

The controller 300 controls the first and second pinch rollers 250 and 251 to recover the printed media 121 by the length corresponding to the print length of the yellow color image and the length of the medium conveyed for detecting the leading bar code of the ink ribbon. And the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 in reverse.

The controller 300 repeats the printing of the magenta color, the cyan color, and the coating layer. When the printing of the coating layer is completed, the controller 300 separates the thermal recording head 230 from the platen roller 270, The first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 are rotated in opposite directions to allow the printed media 121 to be ejected through the media outlet 212.

It is possible to provide a precise feed so that the occurrence of the position error due to the movement of the medium 121 to the printing start point directly before printing is minimized.

Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of an unprinted area by precisely conveying the medium to be printed, thereby providing efficient use of media and printing, and it is possible to improve a separate tail-off operation after printing.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It can be understood that

In the course of the description of the embodiments of the present invention, the thicknesses of the lines and the sizes of the components shown in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience of explanation, , Which may vary depending on the intention or custom of the user, the operator, and the definitions of these terms should be based on the contents throughout this specification.

100: cartridge 110: cartridge housing
120: Media storage unit 121: Media
123: Media supply port 130: Ribbon supply reel
140: Ribbon take-up reel 200: Printer
210: Printer body 211: Cartridge storage groove
212: Media outlet 220: Cover
230: thermosensitive recording head 240: media feed roller
250: first pinch roller 251: second pinch roller
260: first capstan roller 261: second capstan roller
270: Platen roller 280: Barcode detection sensor
290: Media end detection sensor 300:

Claims (3)

A cartridge 100 in which a ribbon supply reel 130 in which a medium 121 is incorporated and in which an unused ink ribbon is wound and a ribbon take-up reel 140 in which an ink ribbon used for printing is wound is formed;
A media supply roller 240 for storing the cartridge 100 and for withdrawing and moving the media 121 of the cartridge 100 accommodated therein, a first pinch roller 250 and a second pinch roller 251, A cartridge storage groove 211 in which a capstan roller 260 and a second capstan roller 261 and a platen roller 270 are installed and a media outlet 212 in which a media outlet 212 for discharging the medium 121 is formed. A body 210;
A cover 220 installed at an upper portion of the printer body 210 so as to be openable and closable and having a thermal recording head 230 installed on one side thereof;
A media end detection sensor (290) installed at the printer body (210) at a distance from the thermal recording head (230) and detecting the leading end of the medium (121) drawn out from the cartridge (100); And
And outputs a rotation signal to the first and second pinch rollers 250 and 251 and the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 until the media tip detection sensor 290 detects the medium 121 The first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 250 are rotated so that the medium 121 is transported to the printing nip NIP between the thermal head 230 and the platen roller 270 by a predetermined distance when the leading end of the medium 121 is detected. And a control unit (300) for controlling the rotation of the first capstan roller (260).
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the printer further comprises a bar code detecting sensor (280) installed on the printer body (210) for detecting a bar code of an ink ribbon supplied from the ribbon supply reel (130).
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 are disposed opposite to each other and the second pinch roller 251 and the second capstan roller 261 are disposed opposite to each other, 250) and the second pinch roller (251) are arranged to have a length smaller than the longitudinal length (L2) of the medium (121).

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