WO2019027071A1

WO2019027071A1 - Printing apparatus and method having function of calculating remaining amount of medium

Info

Publication number: WO2019027071A1
Application number: PCT/KR2017/008426
Authority: WO
Inventors: 최근수
Original assignee: 주식회사 딜리
Priority date: 2017-07-31
Filing date: 2017-08-04
Publication date: 2019-02-07
Also published as: KR101822921B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of a medium, comprising: a feed roller for winding a printing medium therearound and supplying the printing medium while being rotated; a printhead for performing printing on the print medium fed from the feed roller; a recovery roller around which the printing medium printed by the printhead is wound; and a control unit for controlling driving of the feed roller, the printhead, and the recovery roller, wherein a displacement measuring unit for measuring the remaining amount of the printing medium wound around the feed roller is disposed between the feed roller and the printhead.

Description

Printing apparatus and method having a medium remaining amount calculating function

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method having a function of calculating a remaining amount of a medium. More particularly, the present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a method of measuring a displacement amount of a displacement roller To a printing apparatus and a method having a medium remaining amount calculating function capable of calculating the remaining amount of the medium wound on the feeding roller.

Digital printing refers to a technique of directly processing data to be output without directly intervening processes such as film processing in a conventional off-set printing method, and directly outputting the data to a printing machine.

Currently, the printing market is rapidly changing from offset printing to manual digital printing.

Here, most of the digital printing techniques employ a roll-to-roll system that transports print media through a feed roller and a take-off roller and performs printing through a print head disposed between the feed roller and the take-off roller have.

It is important for the printing apparatus adopting such a roll-to-roll system to grasp the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller in performing the printing process before the printing process starts. This is because, in the case of a printing apparatus such as a label printer or an industrial digital press, the printing amount is overwhelmingly larger than that of the personal printing apparatus, so that a single print data input prints hundreds to tens of thousands of images successively.

The prior art for grasping the remaining amount of such print media includes a method of grasping the remaining amount of the ribbon based on the rotation speed of the mounting roll equipped with the roll-shaped ribbon, and a method of grasping the presence of the ribbon wound on the mounting roll.

However, in the case of the related art, it is possible to apply the present invention to a personal printing apparatus by employing a real-time remaining amount detecting method of replacing a ribbon after printing is stopped during a printing process. However, after the remaining amount of the printing medium is determined before starting the printing process, There is a limitation in applying to an industrial printing apparatus that continuously performs and completes a large amount of printing by the printing apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method capable of checking a remaining amount of a print medium wound on a feed roller before starting a printing process to compare the input print data with a remaining amount of a print medium, The present invention provides a printing apparatus and a printing method having a function of calculating a remaining amount of a medium which can continuously print without interruption during printing.

Specifically, a function of calculating the remaining amount of the medium, which is capable of calculating the remaining amount of the medium wound on the supply roller by measuring the amount of displacement of the displacement roller which rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the supply roller to carry the medium, The present invention also provides a printing apparatus and a printing method.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easily determining whether a printing medium is replenished or replaced in accordance with a required printing amount by calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium before starting the printing process, Which has a function of calculating a medium remaining amount.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a printing system and a printing system capable of efficiently responding to errors of a printing apparatus by calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium periodically or in real time not only before the start of the printing process but also during the printing process, Which is capable of increasing the efficiency of the printing process by providing data for the remaining amount of the medium.

According to the present invention, the above object is achieved by a printing apparatus comprising: a supply roller for winding a printing medium and supplying a printing medium in accordance with rotation; A print head for performing printing on the print medium fed from the feed roller; A recovery roller on which a printing medium having been printed from the print head is wound; And a control unit for controlling driving of the feed roller, the print head, and the collection roller. A displacement amount measurement unit for measuring the amount of print medium wound on the feed roller between the feed roller and the print head; Can be achieved by a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount calculating function.

Here, the displacement amount measuring unit may include a displacement roller that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the feed roller to take charge of the print medium, one side of which is engaged with the guide rail frame and reciprocating within a certain range; And a displacement amount measuring sensor for measuring a displacement amount of the displacement roller; .

Further, the displacement amount measuring unit is arranged to measure the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by measuring the amount of displacement of the displacement roller displaced on the guide rail frame at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller.

Here, the displacement amount measuring unit cumulatively adds the amount of displacement of the displacement roller measured by the displacement amount measuring sensor during a predetermined rotation of the feed roller to the control unit.

On the other hand, in the control unit, the remaining amount data of the printing medium wound up to the feeding roller and the displacement amount data of the displacement roller which is displaced at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller in a state in which the printing medium is fully wound around the feeding roller, And stored as reference data for calculating the remaining amount.

Here, the controller compares the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with the displacement amount data of the displacement roller when the feeding roller makes a predetermined rotation at a specific time, and calculates the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller at the specific time .

The displacement sensor may be a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current type displacement meter, an electromagnetic induction scale, a magnetic scale, an optical scale, or a linear scale.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer comprising: a supply roller for winding a print medium and supplying a print medium in accordance with rotation; A print head for performing printing on the print medium fed from the feed roller; A recovery roller on which a printing medium having been printed from the print head is wound; A tension adjusting unit for maintaining a tension of the printing medium fed between the feeding roller and the collecting roller at a constant level; And a control unit for controlling the driving of the feed roller, the print head, the collection roller, and the tension adjusting unit. Wherein the tension adjusting unit comprises: a dancer roller displacement measuring sensor for measuring an amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller; And a media remaining amount calculating function for calculating a media remaining amount.

Here, the sensor for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller may be installed on the dancer roller of the tension adjusting unit, which is displaced under the control of the control unit, in order to keep the tension of the conveyed printing medium constant.

In addition, the sensor for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller is provided to measure the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by measuring the amount of displacement of the dancer roller at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller.

In addition, the sensor for measuring displacement amount of the dancer roller accumulates the amount of displacement of the dancer roller with respect to the reciprocating motion during a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller, and transmits the accumulated amount to the controller.

On the other hand, in the control section, the remaining amount data of the printing medium wound up to the feeding roller and the displacement amount data of the dancer roller displaced at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller in a state in which the printing medium is fully wound around the feeding roller, And stored as reference data for calculating the remaining amount.

Here, the control unit compares the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with the displacement amount data of the dancer roller when the feeding roller makes a predetermined rotation at a specific time, and calculates the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller at the specific time .

The sensor for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller may be a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current type displacement meter, an electronically inductive scale, a magnetic scale, an optical scale, or a linear scale.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing method, comprising: a first step of storing reference data for calculating a remaining amount of print media in a control unit; A second step of inputting print data including a print request amount to the control unit; A third step of calculating a remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by the control unit; And a fourth step of comparing the print request amount of the second step and the remaining amount of the print medium of the third step in the control unit to determine whether or not printing is to be performed; And a medium remaining amount calculating function for calculating a remaining amount of media.

The reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium in the first step includes data on remaining amount of the printing medium that has been wound up to the feeding roller at maximum and data on remaining amount of the printing medium when the feeding roller is rotated at a predetermined rotation And displaced amount data of the displacement roller which rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the feed roller to perform the reciprocating movement in a certain range while conveying the medium.

The third step may include a step 3-1 of controlling the feed roller to rotate in a predetermined direction by the control unit; (3-2) measuring the amount of displacement of the displacement roller; And (3-3) comparing the remaining amount calculation reference data of the first step with displacement amount data of the displacement roller of the third-2step. . &Lt; / RTI >

The displacement amount measuring sensor accumulates the amount of displacement of the displacement roller with respect to the reciprocating motion of the displacement roller by a predetermined rotation of the feed roller, To the control unit.

The control unit may further include a fifth step of outputting a signal indicating supplement or replacement of the printing medium when it is determined that printing is not possible in the fourth step.

The present invention may also be embodied by a computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon a program for performing the printing method.

According to the present invention, a process of determining the remaining amount of the print medium wound on the feed roller before the start of the printing process is performed to compare the remaining amount of the print medium with the remaining amount of the print medium, It is possible to continuously print without interruption during printing.

In addition, by calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium before the start of the printing process, the administrator can easily check the replenishment or replacement of the printing medium according to the required printing amount, thereby unnecessary consumption of the printing medium or interruption of the printing process can be prevented.

In addition, since the remaining amount of the printing medium is calculated periodically or in real time not only before the start of the printing process but also during the printing process, an efficient response to the error of the printing apparatus is realized and data on the printing related status including the printable amount is provided to the manager The efficiency of the printing process can be enhanced.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing two embodiments of a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention,

3 is a flowchart of a printing method having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a detailed step of calculating a remaining amount of media in a printing method having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following description, detailed description of related arts will be omitted if it is determined that the gist of the present invention may be unnecessarily blurred.

Also, the terms used in the specification and claims should not be construed in a limiting sense, and the inventor may, in accordance with the principle that the inventor can properly define the concept of a term in order to explain its invention in the best way, Should be construed as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the invention.

Therefore, the embodiments shown in the present specification and the drawings are only exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the technical ideas of the present invention are presented. Therefore, various equivalents It should be understood that water and variations may exist.

<매체 잔여량 산정 기능을 구비하는 인쇄 장치 - 1실시예><Printing Apparatus Having Media Residual Amount Calculation Function-1 Embodiment>

1 is a block diagram schematically showing an embodiment of a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount sachetting function according to the present invention includes a feeding roller 10, a printhead 20, a collecting roller 30, a control unit 40 and a displacement amount measuring unit 50, . In the case of FIG. 1, a single-pass type printing apparatus is shown in which a print medium is moved while the print head is stationary and printing is performed. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. It is needless to say that the technical idea of the present invention can be applied to various printing apparatuses such as a multipass type printing apparatus in which printing is performed while moving left and right repeatedly or an ink jet printer or a digital printing press in which printing is implemented in another manner.

The overall printing process of the printing apparatus is carried out by supplying the printing medium m from the supply roller 10 and ejecting the ink onto the printing medium m supplied from the printing head 20 to record the image on the printing medium m And the print medium m on which an image is recorded is collected through the collection roller 30. The control unit 40 may be provided to control the operation and the operation of each of the above structures.

The feeding roller 10 is configured to provide a rotational driving force for feeding the printing medium m in the direction of the print head 20 and the collecting roller 30, The print medium m is conveyed in the direction of the collecting roller 30 along a plurality of conveying rollers 15 provided on the printing apparatus.

The print head 20 is a component that performs a role of recording an image on the supplied print medium m and is installed between the supply unit 10 and the collection unit 20. [

The recovery roller 30 is configured to recover the print medium m from the print head 20 and winds the print medium m on which printing has been completed.

In FIG. 1, the feed roller 10, the collection roller 30 and the plurality of conveying rollers 15 for conveying the print medium m are illustrated as being provided symmetrically in correspondence with each other, but not limited thereto , And the positions and the number of the rollers may be provided in various forms according to the quality of the printing result and the setting items in the printing process.

The control unit 40 controls the overall driving of the feed roller 10, the print head 20 and the collecting roller 30, and receives a detection value from a displacement amount measuring unit 50 A data processing unit, an MCU, an arithmetic unit, and the like in an arrangement for analyzing and processing the data to calculate the remaining amount of the print medium m wound on the supply roller 10.

The displacement amount measuring unit 50 is a characteristic element of the present invention and is provided between the supply roller 10 and the print head 20 and is provided with a print medium m) of the remaining data.

Here, the displacement amount measuring unit 50 rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the feeding roller 10 to take charge of the printing medium m, one side of which is engaged with the guide rail frame 51, A displacement roller (52) for carrying out a rolling motion; And a displacement amount measuring sensor (53) for measuring a displacement amount of the displacement roller (52); .

That is, the displacement roller 52 is rotated by the rotational movement for conveying the printing medium interlocked with the rotation driving of the feeding roller 10 and the collecting roller 30, and the tension and the feeding speed applied to the printing medium (m) And a linear reciprocating motion is simultaneously performed along the guide rail frame 51.

A displacement amount measuring sensor 53 for measuring the displacement amount of the displacement roller 52 in accordance with the linear reciprocating motion is installed at one side of the displacement roller 52 or at the engagement portion between the displacement roller 52 and the guide rail frame 51 do.

The displacement amount measuring sensor 53 measures the displacement amount of the displacement roller 52 displaced on the guide rail frame 51 at a predetermined rotation of the supply roller 10 so that the displacement amount measurement unit 50 detects the amount of displacement of the feed roller 10 ) Of the print medium (m). The displacement sensor 53 may be a variety of displacement sensors capable of sensing the amount of displacement of the linear reciprocating motion, and may preferably be a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current displacement meter, an electromagnetic inductive scale, An optical scale, and a linear scale.

The amount of displacement of the displacement roller 52 is not limited to the distance between the initial position of the displacement roller 52 and the position at which the displacement is completed during the predetermined rotation of the supply roller 10, And the displacement amount measurement data is transmitted to the control unit 40. [

The control unit 40 receives the remaining amount data of the print medium m wound up to the supply roller 10 and the supply roller 10 in a state in which the print medium m is wound around the supply roller 10 Displacement amount data of the displacing roller 52 which is displaced at a predetermined rotation of the printing medium m is stored in advance as reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium m. As shown in Fig. 1, when the maximum remaining amount of the printing medium m is R, R = R1-R2 (R1: radius of the printing medium wound around the feeding roller to the maximum, R2: Relationship.

The control unit 40 compares reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with the amount of displacement data of the displacement roller 52 when the feeding roller 10 rotates at a predetermined time, 10 of the printing medium m.

For example, when the amount of displacement of the displacement roller 52 displaced in conjunction with one rotation of the supply roller 10 in the state where the print medium m is wound up is provided as the reference data, The amount of displacement data of the displacement roller 52 which is displaced when the feed roller 10 makes one rotation in the case where the remaining amount of the print medium is 1/2 of the maximum remaining amount is measured.

The control unit 40 can calculate the residual amount R of the print medium m at a specific point of time by calculating the stored remaining amount reference data and the displacement amount measurement data of the displacement roller 52 at a specific point in a proportional manner . Generally, the amount of displacement of the displacement roller 52 of the residual amount calculation reference data has a maximum value, and when a certain amount of printing is performed to reduce the radius of the print medium m wound around the feed roller 10, The amount of the print medium m passing through the displacement roller 52 is reduced by the reference, so that the displacement amount of the displacement roller 52 is also relatively reduced.

In other words, in the present invention, when the feed roller 10 is rotated a predetermined amount while the remaining amount of the print medium is maximum, the displacement amount data of the displacement roller is stored as the remaining amount calculation reference data, The displacement amount data of the displacement roller can be calculated through the proportional expression and the remaining amount calculation reference data, so that the residual amount of the printing medium wound on the supply roller 10 at a specific point of time can be calculated. Here, the predetermined rotation of the feed roller in the remaining amount calculation reference data and the predetermined rotation of the feed roller at a specific point in time are set to be the same, preferably one rotation each, and two more rotations It can also be set.

In the above description, the configuration and the role of the apparatus have been described by starting the printing process after the process of determining the remaining amount of the medium before the start of the printing process. However, the present invention is not limited to the above- The system can efficiently and efficiently respond to errors of the printing apparatus by calculating the printing periodically or in real time, and it is also possible to provide the manager with data about the printing related status including the printable amount (for example, The control of the printing amount by the operator can be realized, thereby improving the efficiency of the overall printing process.

Meanwhile, the printing apparatus having the function of calculating the remaining amount of media according to the present invention has a signal output unit (not shown) for outputting a signal informing the user or manager of the supplement or replacement of the medium when the printing demand amount is larger than the remaining amount of printing medium calculated through the control unit May be additionally included.

<매체 잔여량 산정 기능을 구비하는 인쇄 장치 - 2실시예>&Lt; Printing Apparatus Having Media Residual Amount Calculation Function-2 Embodiment >

2 is a block diagram schematically showing two embodiments of a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a printing apparatus having a medium remaining amount sachetting function according to the present invention includes a feeding roller 10, a print head 20, a collecting roller 30, a control unit 40 and a tension adjusting unit 50a. And the tension adjusting unit 50a includes a dancer roller displacement measuring sensor 54 for measuring the remaining amount of the printing medium m wound on the supplying roller 10. In the case of Figure 2, The present invention is not limited to the single-pass type printing apparatus in which printing is performed while the print medium moves to the lower portion of the print head while the print medium is stationary, It is obvious that the technical idea of the present invention can be applied to various printing apparatuses such as a multipass printing apparatus or an ink jet printer or a digital printing press in which printing is implemented by another method.

The feed roller 10 is configured to provide a rotational driving force for feeding the print medium m in the direction of the print head 20 and the collecting roller 30, The print medium m is conveyed in the direction of the collecting roller 30 along a plurality of conveying rollers 15 provided on the printing apparatus.

In FIG. 2, the feed roller 10, the collection roller 30 and the plurality of conveying rollers 15 for conveying the print medium m are illustrated as being provided symmetrically with each other, but not limited thereto , And the positions and the number of the rollers may be provided in various forms according to the quality of the printing result and the setting items in the printing process.

The control unit 40 controls the overall driving of the feeding roller 10, the print head 20 and the collecting roller 30, and receives the sensing value from the tension adjusting unit 50a to be described later A data processing unit, an MCU, an arithmetic unit, and the like in an arrangement for analyzing and processing the data to calculate the remaining amount of the print medium m wound on the supply roller 10.

The tension adjusting unit 50a is a characteristic element of the present invention and is provided between the feeding roller 10 and the print head 20 and is provided between the feeding roller 10 and the collecting roller 30, The tension of the printing medium 10 wound around the feeding roller 10 before the printing process of the printing apparatus is controlled by the sensor 54 for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller included in the tension adjusting unit 50a, (m) of the remaining data.

The tension adjusting unit 50a includes a pair of fixing rollers 56 and a dancer roller 55 disposed between the fixing rollers 56. The dancer roller displacement measuring sensor 54 is connected to the control unit 40 (In the case of the tension adjusting unit, since it is a known technique, a detailed description will be omitted except for the features of the present invention).

The dancer roller displacement sensor 54 measures the amount of displacement of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller 10 by measuring the amount of displacement of the dancer roller 55 at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller 10 do.

Here, the dancer roller 55 is rotated by a rotation movement for conveying the printing medium interlocked with the rotation driving of the feeding roller 10 and the collection roller 30, and a linear reciprocating motion .

The dancer roller displacement sensor 54 measures the amount of displacement of the displaced dancer roller 55 at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller 10 so that the tension adjusting unit 50a can measure the amount of displacement of the printing medium 10 wound on the feeding roller 10, 0.0 > (m) < / RTI > The dancer roller displacement sensor 54 may be a variety of displacement sensors capable of sensing the amount of displacement of the linear reciprocating motion, and may preferably be a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current displacement meter, Scale, an optical scale, and a linear scale.

Here, the amount of displacement of the dancer roller 55 is not a distance between the initial position of the dancer roller 55 at the time of the predetermined rotation of the feeding roller 10 and the position where the displacement is completed, but accumulates the amount of displacement with respect to the reciprocating motion of the dancer roller 55 And the displacement amount measurement data is transmitted to the control unit 40. [

The control unit 40 receives the remaining amount data of the print medium m wound up to the supply roller 10 and the supply roller 10 in a state in which the print medium m is wound around the supply roller 10 Displacement data of the displaced dancer roller 55 is stored in advance as reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium m. Here, when the maximum remaining amount of the print medium m is R as shown in Fig. 2, R = R1-R2 (R1: radius of the print medium wound around the feed roller to the maximum, R2: Relationship.

The control unit 40 compares reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with displacement amount data of the dancer roller 55 when the feeding roller 10 rotates at a predetermined time, 10 of the printing medium m.

For example, when the amount of displacement of the dancer roller 55 displaced in conjunction with one rotation of the feeding roller 10 in the state where the printing medium m is fully wound is provided as the reference data, The amount of displacement data of the displaced dancer roller 55 is measured when the supply roller 10 makes one revolution in the case where the remaining amount of the printing medium is 1/2 of the maximum remaining amount.

The control unit 40 can calculate the remaining amount of the print medium m at a specific point of time by calculating the stored remaining amount reference data and the displacement amount measurement data of the dancer roller 55 at a specific point in a proportional manner. Generally, the amount of displacement of the dancer roller 55 in the remaining amount calculation reference data has a maximum value. When the printing is performed to some extent and the radius of the printing medium m wound on the feeding roller 10 is reduced, The amount of the print medium m passing through the dancer roller 55 is reduced as a reference, so that the displacement amount of the dancer roller 55 is also relatively reduced.

In other words, in the present invention, when the feeding roller 10 is rotated a predetermined amount with the remaining amount of the print medium being the maximum, the displacement amount data of the dancer roller is stored as the remaining amount calculation reference data, The amount of displacement of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller 10 at a specific point of time can be calculated by calculating the displacement amount data of the dancer roller through the proportional expression and the remaining amount calculation reference data. Here, the predetermined rotation of the feed roller in the remaining amount calculation reference data and the predetermined rotation of the feed roller at a specific point in time are set to be the same, preferably one rotation each, and two more rotations It can also be set.

<매체 잔여량 산정 기능을 구비하는 인쇄 방법>&Lt; Printing Method Having Media Residual Amount Calculation Function &

Hereinafter, a printing method having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. It is to be noted that, for the sake of concise and clear description of the invention, the detailed configuration of the printing apparatus, the remaining amount calculation method, the specific configuration and operation description of the control process are omitted in order to avoid redundancy.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a printing method having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating detailed steps of calculating a remaining amount of media in a printing method having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media according to the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, a printing method having a medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention includes a first step (S10) of storing reference data for calculating a remaining amount of printing medium in a control unit; A second step (S20) of inputting print data including a print request amount to the control unit; A third step (S30) of calculating a remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by the control unit; And a fourth step (S40) of comparing the print request amount of the second step and the remaining amount of the print medium of the third step in the control unit to determine whether or not printing is to be performed; Can be implemented.

That is, the printing method according to the present invention is implemented by a process of storing the reference data for calculating the remaining amount (S10), inputting the printing data (S20), estimating the remaining amount of the printing medium (S30), and determining whether to print (S40).

Here, the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium in the first step (S10) includes data of remaining amount of the printing medium which is wound up to the feeding roller at maximum and data of remaining amount of the printing medium which is wound up to the feeding roller (Dancer roller) that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the feed roller to perform the conveyance of the medium while performing a reciprocating motion within a certain range.

In the third step, as shown in FIG. 4, step 3-1 (S31) of controlling the feed roller to rotate the feeding roller by a predetermined amount is performed. A third-2 step (S32) of measuring a displacement amount of the displacement roller; And (3) a third step (S33) of comparing the remaining amount calculation reference data of the first step with displacement amount data of the displacement roller of the third-second step; . Here, the 3-2 step (S32) is performed by a displacement amount measuring sensor provided on the displacement roller (dancer roller), and the displacement amount measuring sensor measures the amount of displacement of the displacement roller in the reciprocating motion of the displacement roller Cumulative sum of the displacement amounts to be transferred to the control unit. The detailed contents of the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of print media in the first step S10 and the detailed description of the configuration for performing the third step S30 are omitted because they correspond to the first and second embodiments described above .

After the remaining amount of the printing medium is calculated (S30), the control unit determines whether printing is possible or not (S40). If it is determined that printing is not possible, the control unit outputs a signal informing that the printing medium is replenished or replaced S50). If it is determined that printing is possible, printing based on the printing data is performed (S60).

The present invention can also be implemented by a computer-readable recording medium having stored thereon a program for performing the printing method described above, and more particularly, to an analysis and calculation processor, a control processor, An algorithm having a function of controlling the operation in step S40 of determining whether or not printing is possible according to the estimated remaining capacity of the medium, and a recording medium on which the program is stored.

As described above, the printing apparatus and the method having the medium remaining amount calculating function according to the present invention perform a process of determining the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller before the start of the printing process, After comparing the remaining amount, it is possible to confirm whether or not the printing is possible, and to continuously print a large amount of the printing result without interruption during printing.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the exemplary embodiments and the drawings, it is to be understood that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Various modifications and variations may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

And can be widely used in various kinds of printing apparatuses.

Claims

A supply roller that winds the print medium and supplies the print medium along with the rotation;

A print head for performing printing on the print medium fed from the feed roller;

A recovery roller on which a printing medium having been printed from the print head is wound; And

A control unit for controlling driving of the feed roller, the print head, and the collection roller; / RTI >

A displacement amount measurement unit for measuring an amount of print medium wound on the feed roller between the feed roller and the print head; Are arranged

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
The method according to claim 1,

The displacement amount measuring unit

A displacement roller which rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the feed roller to take charge of the print medium, one side of which is engaged with the guide rail frame to perform movement within a certain range; And

A displacement amount measuring sensor for measuring a displacement amount of the displacement roller; &Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
3. The method of claim 2,

Wherein the displacement amount measuring unit is arranged to measure the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by measuring the amount of displacement of the displacement roller displaced on the guide rail frame at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
The method of claim 3,

Wherein the displacement amount measuring unit cumulatively adds a displacement amount to a motion of the displacement roller measured by the displacement amount measuring sensor at a predetermined rotation of the feed roller and transfers the sum to the control unit

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
5. The method of claim 4,

The control unit is configured to calculate a remaining amount data of the printing medium which is wound up to the feeding roller and a displacement amount data of the displacement roller which is displaced at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller in a state where the printing medium is wound around the feeding roller at a maximum, Is stored as reference data of < RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
6. The method of claim 5,

The control unit compares the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with the displacement amount data of the displacement roller when the feeding roller makes a predetermined rotation at a specific time and calculates the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller at the specific time Characterized by

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
3. The method of claim 2,

Wherein the displacement amount measuring sensor is one of a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current type displacement meter, an electromagnetic induction scale, a magnetic scale, an optical scale, and a linear scale

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
A supply roller that winds the print medium and supplies the print medium along with the rotation;

A print head for performing printing on the print medium fed from the feed roller;

A recovery roller on which a printing medium having been printed from the print head is wound;

A tension adjusting unit for maintaining a tension of the printing medium fed between the feeding roller and the collecting roller at a constant level; And

A control unit for controlling driving of the feed roller, the print head, the collection roller, and the tension adjusting unit; / RTI >

The tension adjusting unit includes a dancer roller displacement measuring sensor for measuring an amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller; &Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
9. The method of claim 8,

Wherein the dancer roller displacement measuring sensor is installed on a dancer roller of a tension adjusting unit which is displaced under the control of the control unit in order to keep the tension of the printing medium being conveyed constant

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
10. The method of claim 9,

Wherein the sensor for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller is arranged to measure the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller by measuring the amount of displacement of the dancer roller during a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
11. The method of claim 10,

Wherein the sensor for measuring the amount of displacement of the dancer roller cumulatively adds the amount of displacement with respect to the motion of the dancer roller during a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller,

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
12. The method of claim 11,

The control unit is configured to calculate a remaining amount data of the printing medium that has been wound up to the feeding roller and a displacement amount data of the dancer roller that is displaced at a predetermined rotation of the feeding roller in a state where the printing medium is fully wound around the feeding roller, Is stored as reference data of < RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
13. The method of claim 12,

The controller compares the reference data for calculating the remaining amount of the printing medium with the displacement amount data of the dancer roller when the feeding roller makes a predetermined rotation at a specific time and calculates the remaining amount of the printing medium wound on the feeding roller at the specific time Characterized by

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
9. The method of claim 8,

Wherein the sensor for measuring the displacement of the dancer roller is provided by any one of a potentiometer, a differential transformer, an eddy current type displacement meter, an electromagnetic induction scale, a magnetic scale, an optical scale and a linear scale

A printing apparatus having a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
A first step of storing reference data for calculating a remaining amount of print media in a control unit;

A second step of inputting print data including a print request amount to the control unit;

A third step of calculating an amount of the print medium wound on the feed roller by the control unit; And

A fourth step of comparing the amount of the print request of the second step and the amount of the print medium of the third step in the control unit to determine whether or not the print request is to be printed; &Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing method comprising a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
16. The method of claim 15,

The reference data for calculating the remaining amount of printing medium in the first step includes:

The remaining amount data of the printing medium which is wound up to the feeding roller at the maximum,

And displacement amount data of a displacement roller for performing a movement in a certain range while rotating in conjunction with the rotation of the feed roller during a predetermined rotation of the feed roller in a state where the print medium is fully wound around the feed roller, Featured

A printing method comprising a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
17. The method of claim 16,

In the third step,

(3-1) controlling the feed roller to rotate in a predetermined direction by the control unit;

(3-2) measuring the amount of displacement of the displacement roller; And

A third step of comparing the remaining amount calculation reference data of the first step with the displacement amount data of the displacement roller of the third-second step; &Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 >

A printing method comprising a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
18. The method of claim 17,

The displacement amount measuring sensor accumulates the amount of displacement of the displacement roller with respect to the movement of the displacement roller by a predetermined rotation of the feed roller and transmits the cumulative amount of displacement to the controller Characterized in that

A printing method comprising a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
16. The method of claim 15,

And if it is determined that printing is impossible in the fourth step, the control unit may further include a fifth step of outputting a signal informing the supplement or replacement of the printing medium

A printing method comprising a function of calculating a remaining amount of media.
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for performing the printing method according to any one of claims 15 to 19.