TWI604963B - Printer - Google Patents

Description

Printer

The invention relates to a printer, in particular to a printer capable of judging whether a paper jam has occurred.

At present, thermal-sensing printers have been widely used in various point-of-sales (POS) printing of consumer documents, such as retail, finance, hotels, medical and other service industries. Thermal-sensing printers typically use paper rolls for printing. In the process of the operation of the thermal-sensing printer, the most frequently used paper roll or paper jam condition needs to be removed by the user in time to enable the thermal-sensing printer to continue to operate normally. In order to allow the user to replace the new paper roll when the paper roll is used up, the thermal induction printer is equipped with a sensor for sensing whether the paper roll is used up. However, most conventional thermal-sensing printers do not provide a function for judging whether or not paper has jammed. Some prior art systems are equipped with a sensor for determining whether a paper jam has occurred in a thermal-sensing printer (as opposed to a sensor for sensing whether the paper roll is used up), however, this will increase The manufacturing cost of a thermal printer.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of judging whether or not a paper jam has occurred in order to solve the above problems.

According to an embodiment, the printer of the present invention comprises a housing, a paper feed roller, a sensing unit and a processing unit. The paper feed roller is disposed in the housing. The paper feed roller conveys a sheet of paper along a paper feed path. The sensing unit is disposed in the housing and located beside the paper feed path. The sensing unit senses the paper to generate a plurality of sensed values. The processing unit is disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the sensing unit. The processing unit calculates a statistical value according to the sensed value, and compares the statistical value with a threshold value. When the statistical value is less than the threshold value, the processing unit determines that a paper jam has occurred.

Preferably, the sensing unit generates a plurality of first sensing values when the paper jams, and generates a plurality of second sensing values when the paper does not jam. The processing unit calculates a first statistic value according to the first sensing value, and calculates a second statistic value according to the second sensing value, where the threshold value is an intermediate value between the first statistic value and the second statistic value.

In summary, the present invention utilizes a sensing unit located beside the paper feeding path to sense the sensing value of the paper when a paper jam occurs and no paper jam occurs, and then statistically calculate the paper jam for determining whether a paper jam has occurred. Threshold value. When the statistical value calculated by the processing unit during the conveyance of the paper is less than the threshold value, the processing unit judges that the paper has jammed, and then issues a warning message to notify the user to promptly eliminate the jam condition to facilitate the printer. Continue to function normally. In addition, the sensing unit located beside the paper path can also be used to sense whether the paper is used up. In other words, the present invention utilizes a sensing unit located beside the paper feeding path to simultaneously provide a function of determining whether the paper has jammed or not, and does not need to add an additional sensing unit, thereby effectively reducing the manufacturing cost of the printer. .

The advantages and spirit of the present invention will be further understood from the following detailed description of the invention.

1‧‧‧Printer

3‧‧‧ Paper

10‧‧‧shell

12‧‧‧Feeding roller

14‧‧‧Sensor unit

16‧‧‧Processing unit

18‧‧‧Printing unit

30‧‧‧ paper rolls

P‧‧‧Feeding path

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the inside of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a functional block diagram of the printer in Figure 1.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the inside of a printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the printer 1 in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer 1 includes a casing 10, a paper feed roller 12, a sensing unit 14, a processing unit 16, and a printing unit 18. In this embodiment, the printer 1 can be a thermal-sensing printer, the printing unit 18 can be a thermal-sensitive printing unit, and the paper 3 can be a heat-sensitive paper, but not limited thereto. In practical applications, the printer 1 also has the necessary hardware and software components for operation, such as circuit boards, memory, power supplies, applications, communication modules, and drive modules. Depending on the application.

The paper feed roller 12, the sensing unit 14, the processing unit 16, and the printing unit 18 are all disposed in the housing 10. The processing unit 16 is electrically connected to the sensing unit 14 and the printing unit 18. In this embodiment, processing unit 16 may be a processor or controller having signal processing/computing functionality. The paper feed roller 12 conveys a sheet of paper 3 along a paper feed path P, wherein the paper sheet 3 is provided by the paper roll 30. In this embodiment, the paper feed roller 12 is rotatable by a motor (not shown). The sensing unit 14 is located beside the paper feeding path P for providing a function of determining whether the paper has jammed or not, and determining whether the paper is used up. In this embodiment, the sensing unit 14 can be an optically reflective photo interrupter, but is not limited thereto. When the sensing unit 14 does not sense the paper, the processing unit 16 can determine that the paper has run out according to the sensing result of the sensing unit 14, and issue a warning message (eg, flash, sound, image, etc.) to notify the use. Replace the new paper roll.

Before the determination of whether or not a paper jam occurs, the present invention may generate a plurality of first sensing values by sensing the paper 3 by the sensing unit 14 before the paper jam occurs, and when the paper 3 does not jam. The sensing unit 14 senses the paper 3 to generate a plurality of second sensing values. Next, the processing unit 16 calculates a first statistical value according to the first sensing value, and calculates a second statistical value according to the second sensing value. Next, the processing unit 16 recalculates the intermediate value between the first statistic value and the second statistic value, and uses the intermediate value as a threshold value for determining whether a jam has occurred.

Please refer to Table 1. Table 1 is a sensor of the model SHARPPGP2S700HCP as the sensing unit 14 of the present invention, and senses the first sensing value and its associated first statistical value when the paper 3 jams. It should be noted that the number of the first sensing values sensed by the sensing unit 14 when the paper 3 is jammed may be determined according to the actual application, and is not limited to the ten shown in Table 1.

Referring to Table 2, the sensor of the model SHARPPGP2S700HCP is used as the sensing unit 14 of the present invention, and the second sensing value and its associated second statistical value sensed when the paper 3 is not jammed. It should be noted that the number of the second sensing values sensed by the sensing unit 14 when the paper 3 is not jammed may be determined according to the actual application, and is not limited to the ten shown in Table 2.

As shown in Table 1 and Table 2, the first statistical value may be a sum of squares corresponding to the deviation values of the first sensing values, a variation of the first sensing value or a standard deviation of the first sensing value, and the second statistic The value may be a sum of squares corresponding to the deviation values of the second sensing values, a variation of the second sensing values, or a standard deviation of the second sensing values, depending on the actual application.

If the first statistic value is the sum of the squares of the deviation values corresponding to the first sensing value, and the second statistic value is the sum of the squares of the deviation values corresponding to the second sensing value, the threshold value for determining whether the jam occurs may be The intermediate value between the two is (5.60+185.60)/2=95.6. If the first statistic is the variability of the first sensible value, and the second statistic is the variability of the second sensible value, the threshold value used to determine whether a jam has occurred may be the intermediate value of the two, That is (0.62+20.62)/2=10.62. If the first statistic is the standard deviation of the first sensible value, and the second statistic is the standard deviation of the second sensible value, the threshold value used to determine whether a jam has occurred may be the middle value of the two, That is (0.79+4.54)/2=2.665.

Please refer to Table 3, which is a sensor of the model EVERLIGHT-ITR20001 as the sensing unit 14 of the present invention, and senses the first sensing value and the related first statistical value when the paper 3 is jammed. . It should be noted that the number of the first sensing values sensed by the sensing unit 14 when the paper 3 is jammed may be determined according to the actual application, and is not limited to the ten shown in Table 3.

Please refer to Table 4, which is a sensor of the model EVERLIGHT-ITR20001 as the sensing unit 14 of the present invention, and the second sensing value sensed when the paper 3 is not jammed and the related second statistical value. . It should be noted that the number of the second sensing values sensed by the sensing unit 14 when the paper 3 is not jammed may be determined according to the actual application, and is not limited to the ten shown in Table 4.

As shown in Table 3 and Table 4, the first statistic may be a sum of squares corresponding to the deviation values of the first sensing values, a variation of the first sensing value, or a standard deviation of the first sensing value, and the second statistic The value may be a sum of squares corresponding to the deviation values of the second sensing values, a variation of the second sensing values, or a standard deviation of the second sensing values, depending on the actual application.

If the first statistic value is the sum of the squares of the deviation values corresponding to the first sensing value, and the second statistic value is the sum of the squares of the deviation values corresponding to the second sensing value, the threshold value for determining whether the jam occurs may be The intermediate value between the two is (4.10+783.60)/2=393.85. If the first statistic is the variability of the first sensible value, and the second statistic is the variability of the second sensible value, the threshold value used to determine whether a jam has occurred may be the intermediate value of the two, That is (0.46+87.07)/2=43.765. If the first statistic is the standard deviation of the first sensible value, and the second statistic is the standard deviation of the second sensible value, the threshold value used to determine whether a jam has occurred may be the middle value of the two, That is (0.67 + 9.33) / 2 = 5.

After determining the threshold value for judging whether or not a paper jam occurs, the plurality of sensing values generated by the sensing unit 14 sensing the paper 3 can be used to determine whether a paper jam occurs when the printer 1 is in operation. For example, when the paper feed roller 12 transports the paper 3 along the paper feed path P, the sensing unit 14 can sense the paper 3 to generate a plurality of sensed values. Next, the processing unit 16 calculates a statistical value according to the sensed value sensed by the sensing unit 14, and compares the statistical value with the threshold value described above. When the statistic is less than the threshold When the processing unit 16 determines that the paper 3 has jammed, and then sends a warning message (for example, flash, sound, image, etc.), the user is notified to promptly eliminate the jam condition, so that the printer 1 continues to operate normally. It should be noted that during the conveyance of the paper 3, the sensing unit 14 continuously senses the paper 3 to continuously generate the sensing value. Therefore, in practical applications, the above-described jam detection may be performed once the sensing unit 14 generates a fixed number (for example, ten) of sensing values.

For example, if the threshold value is an intermediate value between the sum of the squares of the deviation values corresponding to the first sensing values and the squared values of the deviation values corresponding to the second sensing values, after the sensing unit 14 generates ten sensing values. The processing unit 16 calculates the average value of the ten sensed values, calculates the deviation value of each of the sensed values and the average value to obtain ten deviation values, and uses the sum of the squares of the ten deviation values as the above-mentioned statistical value. If the threshold value is the intermediate value between the variance of the first sensing value and the variation of the second sensing value, the processing unit 16 calculates ten sensings after the sensing unit 14 generates ten sensing values. a variation of the value, and the variation is used as the statistical value; if the threshold is the intermediate value of the standard deviation of the first sensing value and the standard deviation of the second sensing value, then ten are generated in the sensing unit 14. After sensing the value, the processing unit 16 calculates the standard deviation of the ten sensed values, and uses the standard deviation as the above-mentioned statistical value.

It should be noted that the threshold value for judging whether a jam has occurred is not limited to the intermediate value between the first statistical value and the second statistical value. For example, the threshold value for judging whether a jam has occurred may also be an appropriate ratio of the sum of the first statistical value and the second statistical value, as long as the jam state and the unflicked state can be clearly distinguished. As shown in Tables 1 to 4, since the difference between the first statistical value when the jam occurs and the second statistical value when the jam does not occur is extremely large, therefore, the present invention can be used to judge whether or not The threshold value of the occurrence of the jam is set to be the intermediate value between the first statistical value and the second statistical value, whereby the jam state and the unflicked state can be clearly distinguished.

In summary, the present invention utilizes a sensing unit located beside the paper feeding path to sense the sensing value of the paper when a paper jam occurs and no paper jam occurs, and then statistically calculate the paper jam for determining whether a paper jam has occurred. Threshold value. When the statistical value calculated by the processing unit during the conveyance of the paper is less than the threshold value, the processing unit judges that the paper has jammed, and then issues a warning message to notify the user to promptly eliminate the jam condition to facilitate the printer. Continue to function normally. In addition, the feeling of being located next to the paper path The measuring unit can also be used to sense if the paper is used up. In other words, the present invention utilizes a sensing unit located beside the paper feeding path to simultaneously provide a function of determining whether the paper has jammed or not, and does not need to add an additional sensing unit, thereby effectively reducing the manufacturing cost of the printer. .

The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all changes and modifications made to the scope of the present invention should be within the scope of the present invention.

1‧‧‧Printer

3‧‧‧ Paper

10‧‧‧shell

12‧‧‧Feeding roller

14‧‧‧Sensor unit

18‧‧‧Printing unit

30‧‧‧ paper rolls

P‧‧‧Feeding path

Claims (5)

A printer includes: a casing; a paper feed roller disposed in the casing, the paper feed roller conveying a paper along a paper feeding path; a sensing unit disposed in the casing and located at the The sensing unit senses the paper to generate a plurality of sensing values, and a processing unit is disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the sensing unit, and the processing unit is configured according to the sensing Calculating a statistical value, and comparing the statistical value with a threshold value, when the statistical value is less than the threshold value, the processing unit determines that the paper has a paper jam; wherein the sensing unit generates a plurality of papers when the paper jam occurs a first sensing value, and generating a plurality of second sensing values when the paper does not jam, the processing unit calculating a first statistical value according to the first sensing values, and according to the second sense The measured value calculates a second statistical value, and the threshold is an intermediate value between the first statistical value and the second statistical value. The printer of claim 1, wherein the processing unit calculates an average value of the sensed values, calculates a deviation value of each of the sensed values from the average value, and obtains a plurality of deviation values, and The sum of the squares of the deviation values is taken as the statistical value. The printer of claim 1, wherein the processing unit calculates one of the sensed values and uses the variance as the statistical value. The printer of claim 1, wherein the processing unit calculates one of the standard deviations of the sensed values and uses the standard deviation as the statistical value. The printer of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit is an optical reflective interrupter.