KR101496826B1 - Media cartridge of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention aims to provide a media cartridge of a printer which can accommodate an ink ribbon and a printing medium in one integrated cartridge so that a user can easily set and mount a new cartridge in the printer or easily replace a cartridge mounted on the printer . To this end, the present invention provides a cartridge comprising: a cartridge housing; A media storage unit installed in the cartridge housing to receive a printing medium and supply the stored media; A ribbon supply reel installed in the cartridge housing and wound with an unused ink ribbon; And a ribbon take-up reel which is spaced apart from the ribbon supply reel by a predetermined distance to allow the ink ribbon used for printing to be wound, wherein the media storage portion is provided at one side of the cartridge housing so as to be inclined to reduce the lengthwise dimension of the cartridge housing . Therefore, the ink ribbon and the printing medium are housed in the single integrated cartridge, so that the user can easily set and mount the new cartridge in the printer or easily replace the cartridge mounted in the printer.

Description

The media cartridge of the printer {MEDIA CARTRIDGE OF PRINTER}

The present invention relates to a media cartridge of a printer, and more particularly, to an ink cartridge and a printing medium which are housed in a single integrated cartridge so that a user can easily set and mount a new cartridge in the printer, To a replaceable printer media cartridge.

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) that can be activated by heat and an overcoat layer It is in sequential application form, 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 then the magenta (M) color, the cyan (C) color and the coating layer are printed after the photo paper is moved to the left in the drawing, When the printing is finished, the photo paper is discharged through the outlet 44. [

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.

However, such a conventional printer requires a large installation space because the cassette protrudes to the outside of the printer, and the process for replacing the used ink ribbon is complicated. When the photo paper is taken out for printing while being wound on the photo paper roll, There is a problem in that the printing paper is scratched due to the movement of the paper in the rounded state and the printing quality is deteriorated.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0520578

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a printer capable of storing an ink ribbon and a printing medium in a single integrated cartridge so that a user can easily set and mount a new cartridge in the printer, It is an object of the present invention to provide a media cartridge.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a media cartridge for a printer, comprising: a cartridge housing; A media storage unit installed in the cartridge housing to store a printing medium and to supply the stored media through a media supply port formed at one side; A ribbon supply reel installed in the cartridge housing and wound with an unused ink ribbon; And a ribbon take-up reel which is spaced apart from the ribbon supply reel to allow the ink ribbon used for printing to be wound, wherein the one end of the medium accommodating portion is inclined at a height higher than the media supply port by a predetermined length (H) And the size of the housing is reduced in the longitudinal direction.

The media cartridge according to the present invention is further characterized by further comprising an RFID tag installed outside the cartridge housing and storing the media stored in the media storage unit and model information of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon take-up reel .

In addition, the RFID tag further stores remaining amount information of the media stored in the media storage unit after printing.

In addition, the media according to the present invention is characterized in that media of a predetermined size are stacked on the media storage unit in a single sheet.

Further, the media storage unit according to the present invention may include a plate member for pressing the embedded media from above; And a spring installed between the media storage unit and the plate member to provide an elastic force to the plate member.

Further, the medium according to the present invention is characterized in that the medium is any one of a photo paper of paper, a sheet of plastic material capable of bending deformation, or a 3D lens sheet paper.

The present invention has the advantage that the ink ribbon and the printing medium are housed in one integrated cartridge so that the user can easily set and mount the new cartridge in the printer or easily replace the cartridge mounted on the printer.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a conventional thermal sublimation type printer.
2 is a perspective view showing a media cartridge of a printer according to the present invention;
3 is a sectional view showing a structure of a media cartridge of a printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a use state of the media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention. FIG.
5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a printer equipped with a media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention.
6 is a block diagram showing an RFID tag of a media cartridge of a printer according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a media cartridge of a printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a printer equipped with a media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an RFID tag of a media cartridge of the printer according to the present invention.

As shown in Figs. 2 to 6, the media cartridge 100 of the printer according to the present invention accommodates the ink ribbon and the printing medium in one integrated cartridge so that the user can easily set and mount a new cartridge, A cartridge housing 110 for minimizing the size of the cartridge 100 by stacking the media 121 in a slant manner when the media 121 is loaded, A ribbon supply reel 130, a ribbon take-up reel 140, and an RFID tag 150. The media supply unit 120 includes a ribbon supply reel 130, a ribbon take-up reel 140,

The cartridge housing 110 supports the media storage unit 120 on one side and supports the ribbon supply reel 130 and the ribbon take-up reel 140 on the other side.

The media storage unit 120 is a rectangular member that is installed on one side of the cartridge housing 110 and accommodates the printing medium 121 therein. The media storage unit 120 is provided with a media roller insertion port 122 so that the media storage unit 121 can be closely contacted with the media supply roller 240, A sphere 123 is formed.

The media storage unit 120 includes a plate-like plate member 124 that presses the media 121 at a predetermined pressure so that friction between the media 121 and the media supply roller 240 can be increased, And a spring 125 installed between the media storage unit 120 and the plate member 124 and providing an elastic force to press the plate member 124 at a constant pressure.

In addition, the media storage unit 120 is slantably installed on one side of the cartridge housing 110 to reduce the size of the cartridge housing 110 in the longitudinal direction.

That is, the media storage unit 120 is installed in such a manner that the right end of the media storage unit 120 is inclined from the right side to the left side of the cartridge housing 110 by a predetermined length H, So that the size of the cartridge 100 can be reduced.

The media 121 contained in the storage unit 120 includes a plurality of mediums 121 having a predetermined size stacked in a sheet form and accommodated in the media storage unit 120 The media 121 is formed of one of paper, a plastic sheet, or a 3D lens sheet, which is capable of bending and deforming.

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 RFID tag 150 is installed outside the cartridge housing 110 and stores model information of the media 121 housed in the media storage unit 120 and model information of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon supply reel 130 And includes an antenna unit 151 and an RFID chip 152. [

The antenna unit 151 receives the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the printer 200 to generate driving power for the RFID chip 152 and transmits the model information of the medium 121 and the ink ribbon stored in the RFID chip 152 To be transmitted to the printer 200.

The RFID chip 152 stores the model information of the media 121 and the ink ribbon and the RFID chip 152 receives the information on the number of prints provided from the printer 200, 120 may be configured to store the remaining amount information of the media 121 stored in the storage medium.

Information of the media 121 and the ink ribbon stored in the RFID chip 152 is provided and displayed on the printer 200 so that the user can easily check the media and the ink ribbon information contained in the cartridge 100.

The printer 200 in which the cartridge 100 is housed has a cartridge receiving groove 211 in which the cartridge 100 is received and a media outlet 212 through which the media 121 printed on one side is discharged And a lid 220 is formed on the upper portion of the cartridge receiving groove 211.

In addition, a media supply roller 240, a first pinch roller 250, a second pinch roller 251, a first capstan roller 260, and a second pinch roller 251 are provided in the cartridge receiving groove 211 of the printer 200 A second capstan roller 261 and a platen roller 270 are installed in the cover unit 220 and a thermal recording head 230 is installed in the cover unit 220 to cover the cover unit 220 When the cartridge 100 is opened, it is separated from the cartridge 100.

The printer 200 includes an RFID transceiver (not shown) for driving the RFID tag 150 mounted on the cartridge 100 and transmitting and receiving data. The printer 200 further includes an RFID transceiver (not shown) And the media remaining amount remaining in the media storage unit 120 are displayed on the display unit (not shown), and the media remaining amount information is transmitted to the RFID tag 150.

The following describes the operation of the media cartridge 100 of the printer according to the present invention.

When the cartridge 100 is placed in the cartridge receiving groove 211 with the lid 200 of the printer 200 being opened and the lid 220 is covered with the thermal recording head 230, A planet roller 270 is disposed between the supply reel 130 and the ribbon take-up reel 140 and below the heat-sensitive recording head 230.

A media supply roller 240 is disposed below the media roller insertion port 122 of the media storage unit 120 and a first pinch roller 250 is interposed between the media supply port 123 and the ribbon supply reel 130. [ And the second pinch roller 251 and the second capstan roller 261 are disposed between the ribbon take-up reel 140 and the media outlet 212. The first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 260 are disposed between the ribbon take-

When the printing is started, the ribbon take-up reel 140 is reversely rotated in a state where the thermal recording head 230 is spaced apart from the platen roller 270, and the ink ribbon supplied from the ribbon supply reel 130 is taken up, (Not shown) until the ink ribbon tip bar code of yellow color is detected.

When the winding of the ink ribbon is completed, the media supply roller 240 is rotated in the reverse direction so that the medium 121 stored in the media storage unit 120 is supplied between the first pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 And stops when the supply of the medium 121 is completed.

When the medium 121 is supplied, the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 251 rotate in a forward direction, and the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 rotate in the opposite direction, (NiP) between the thermosensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 from the media tip detecting sensor by a predetermined distance so as to be supplied until the medium 121 is detected by a sensor (not shown) The pinch roller 250 and the first capstan roller 260 are driven to move the media 121 precisely.

When the medium 121 is supplied to the printing nip, the pressure is applied to the thermosensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 so as to generate pressure, so that the ink between the thermosensitive recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 The ribbon and the medium 121 are pressurized to a predetermined pressure or more.

At this time, the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 251, the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 rotate at a constant speed, and the heating element of the thermal recording head 230 is driven The ribbon take-up reel 140 pulls the ink ribbon coming out from the nip of the thermal recording head 230 and separates the ribbon from the medium 121 and winds it.

When the yellow color printing is completed, the rotation of the first and second pinch rollers 250 and 251, the first and second capstan rollers 260 and 261 and the platen roller 270 is stopped, The head 230 and the platen roller 270 are separated from each other and then driven until the next ink magenta color ink ribbon barcode is detected through the ribbon winding roll 140 to wind the ink ribbon.

First and second pinch rollers (250, 251) for recovering the medium by a length corresponding to the print length of the yellow color image and the length of the medium transported for detecting the leading end barcode of the ink ribbon, and first and second capstan rollers 260, and 261 and the platen roller 270 are rotated.

After printing of the coating layer is completed, the thermal recording head 230 and the platen roller 270 are separated from each other, and then the first pinch roller 250 and the second pinch roller 270 are separated from each other. The roller 251 rotates in a forward direction and the first capstan roller 260 and the second capstan roller 261 rotate in a reverse direction to eject the printed media 121 through the media outlet 212.

Therefore, the ink ribbon and the printing medium are housed in the single integrated rectangular cartridge, so that the user can easily set and mount the new cartridge in the printer or easily replace the cartridge mounted in the printer.

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
122: Media roller inlet 123: Media feed port
124: plate member 125: spring
130: ribbon supply reel 140: ribbon take-up reel
150: RFID tag 151:
152: RFID chip 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

Claims (6)

A media cartridge of a printer,
A cartridge housing (110);
A media storage unit 120 installed in the cartridge housing 110 to store the printing medium 121 and to supply the stored media 121 through a media supply port 123 formed at one side thereof;
A ribbon supply reel 130 installed in the cartridge housing 110 and wound with an unused ink ribbon; And
And a ribbon take-up reel 140 which is spaced apart from the ribbon supply reel 130 by a predetermined distance to allow the ink ribbon used for printing to be wound,
Wherein one end of the media storage part (120) is inclined at a height (H) higher than the media supply port (123) to reduce the lengthwise dimension of the cartridge housing (110) cartridge.
The method according to claim 1,
The media cartridge is mounted on the outside of the cartridge housing 110 and includes media 121 housed in the media storage unit 120 and an RFID tag 150 for storing model information of the ink ribbon wound on the ribbon take- ) Of the printer (100).
3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the RFID tag (150) further stores remaining amount information of the media (121) stored in the media storage unit (120) after printing.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Wherein the medium (121) has a predetermined size of media stacked in the media storage unit (120).
5. The method of claim 4,
The media storage unit 120 includes a plate member 124 for pressing the embedded media 121 thereon; And
Further comprising a spring (125) installed between the media storage part (120) and the plate member (124) to provide an elastic force to the plate member (124).
5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the medium (121) is any one of a photo paper of paper, a sheet of plastic material capable of bending deformation, or a 3D lens sheet paper.

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