JPH088109Y2 - Small printing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention has a printer unit inside a main body of a device, for example, and is a small print that performs printing by obtaining a sub-operation by moving the main body of the device on a recording paper. Regarding the device.

[Prior Art and its Problems] Generally, in a word processor or a typewriter printer, a sub-scanning moving mechanism of a print head and a feeding mechanism of an ink ribbon or thermal paper operate in synchronization with each other using a motor or the like as a driving source. It is supposed to do.

However, such a printer has a drawback that not only the size of the entire apparatus becomes large, but also power consumption is large.

To solve this problem, a manual printer has been developed in which the main body of the apparatus is moved on the recording paper to obtain sub-scanning and printing is performed without an electric power source such as a motor. There is a problem that a printing error is likely to occur due to the operation error of.

[Purpose of Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems.
For example, it is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized printing apparatus that consumes less power and can reliably prevent a printing error even if the user makes an operation error.

[Summary of the Invention] That is, in the small-sized printing apparatus according to the present invention, the rotation of the rotating body that rotates with the movement of the apparatus body in the predetermined direction is transmitted to the take-up shaft of the printing target member via the rotation transmission gear. When the rotating body is rotated in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction, the rotation preventing member is directly meshed with the rotation transmitting gear to prevent the movement of the main body of the apparatus and the movement of the printing target member. It is configured as follows.

[Embodiment of the Invention] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an external configuration of a printing apparatus embodying the present invention. The apparatus main body 10 has a size that can be sufficiently held by a user's hand. First, a mode changeover switch 11 is provided on the left side surface of the device body 10. This mode switch 11 is used to turn the power on and off, and to switch between word processing mode (document creation mode) WP and print mode (printing mode) PR. When the word processing mode WP or print mode PR is specified, the power supply is switched. Is turned on.
On the other hand, on the front surface of the device body 10, the key input unit 12 and the display unit
13 are provided. In the key input unit 12, a character / symbol input key 14, a function key 15, a cursor key 16, a kana / kanji conversion key 17, a next candidate key 18, kanji selection keys 19a to 19f, and a print key 20 are arranged. Here, the display unit 13 displays, for example, a total of 16 characters in two lines, upper and lower. Further, on the lower surface of the apparatus main body 10, for example, a line-type thermal head having 48 dots per line, and a print head portion HA provided with the line direction thereof facing the width direction of the apparatus main body 10 are provided.

The above-mentioned character / symbol input key 14 is for inputting kana of the created document,
Or it is used to input alphanumeric characters and symbols in combination with the function key 15, and the function key 15
Various functions necessary for creating / printing a document with the character / symbol input keys 14 such as the start / end of document input or the execution key 15a that delimits a specified range of movement on the document by the cursor k, insertion, deletion, shift key, etc. A key that specifies is placed. The characters and symbols input by the character / symbol input key 14 and the function key 15 are sequentially displayed on the display unit 13. A cursor key 16 moves a cursor k displayed on the display unit 13 together with the input document or the symbol in the left-right direction. The movement of the cursor specifies an input position, a functional range, and the like. The kana / kanji conversion key 17 is used to convert kana to kanji in the prepared document input by kana using the character / symbol input key 14 for each fixed phrase, idiom, and single kanji. A predetermined number of Kanji characters are displayed on the display unit 13 together with the converted kana document, and by operating the next candidate key 18, a large number of other homophones are displayed alternately. When the kanji to be converted by this kana / kanji conversion is displayed on the display unit 13, the desired kanji is selected and designated by the corresponding kanji selection keys 19a to 19f.

In other words, the mode selector switch 11 is used to
A desired document is created by designating WP and repeating the key / symbol key input operation, kana / kanji conversion operation, and kanji selection operation. When printing a document created by key input, the print mode PR is designated by the mode changeover switch 11, then the head HA is brought into contact with the recording paper A side, and the apparatus main body 10 is pressed while the print key 20 is pressed. Move in the direction indicated by arrow X. As a result, the created document is printed. In this case, for example, when the user tries to move the apparatus main body 10 in the opposite direction to the normal printing direction X due to an operation error, the internal movement preventing mechanism is activated, and the occurrence of printing error is prevented. It will be.

FIG. 2 shows the printing unit 21 configured in the printing apparatus. In FIG. 2, 22 is an ink ribbon cassette, and the cassette 22 is the inside of the apparatus main body 10 centering on the printing unit 21. In addition, it is configured to be attachable and detachable with high precision. The ink ribbon cassette 22 is provided with two ribbon spools 23a and 23b, which serve as a supply spool and a take-up spool of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 24, respectively. The thermal transfer ink ribbon 24 is the ribbon cassette
It is set so as to be partially exposed at the lower end of the head 22 from the head mounting notch 25. A ribbon loading notch 26 is formed in the print head portion HA of the print portion 21, and a thermal head 27 is formed in the center of the notch 26 by slightly projecting its head surface from the lower surface of the apparatus body 10. Will be placed. The thermal head 27 is provided so that it can be slightly moved up and down by slide stays 28a and 28b provided upright on the head mounting member 28, and the thermal head 27 is always moved downward by the action of a spring integrally wound around the stays 28a and 28b. The printing pressure on the printer is maintained. Further, on the lower surface side of the apparatus main body 10 on which the thermal head 27 is arranged, two large and small openings 29 and 30 are formed on both sides of the ribbon loading notch 26, and rubber rollers 31 and 32 are arranged respectively on the openings 29 and 30. It This rubber roller 31,32
Means that when the apparatus main body 10 is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow X during a printing operation, it rotates in contact with the recording paper A, and one rubber roller 31 has a gear coaxially with its side portion.
33 is stuck. The gear 33 has a smaller diameter than the rubber roller 31, and is connected to the winding gear 36 via gears 34, 35a, 35b.

3 (A) and 3 (B) are enlarged views of the peripheral structure of the winding gear 36, respectively.
A ribbon winding shaft 37 is erected on the same axis, and the winding shaft 37
A stopper arm 38, which is in pressure contact with the winding gear 36, is attached to the base portion of the. The stopper arm 38 is rotated in the rotating direction of the gear 36 by the pressure contact force with the winding gear 36, and a stopper gear 39 fitted to the winding gear 36 is provided at the tip of the arm 38. To be Also, the winding shaft
An arm stopper 40 is provided in the rotation direction of the arm 38 corresponding to the winding rotation direction of 36. Here, when the winding gear 36 rotates in the ribbon winding direction (normal rotation),
As shown in FIG. 3A, the stopper arm 38 rotates to the arm stopper 40 and stops, and when it rotates in the opposite direction, as shown in FIG. It stops until the stopper gear 39 at the tip is fitted to the gear 35b. That is, the gears 35b and 36, the stopper arm
The reverse rotation prevention mechanism is constituted by the 38, the stopper gear 39, and the arm stopper 40.

On the other hand, the encoder disc 41 is connected to the gear 35a in FIG. Here, the rotation of the rubber roller 31 is transmitted to the ribbon winding shaft 37 and the encoder disk 41. A plurality of slits 41a, 41b, ... Are radially formed at regular intervals on the encoder disc 41, and are adjacent to two positions facing each other with the slit forming portion of the encoder disc 41 interposed therebetween. LE
D42a, 42b and photosensors 43a, 43b are arranged. In this case, the projection light from the LEDs 42a, 42b is the encoder disc
Photo sensor 43a, 43b through slits 41a, 41b, ... Of 41
When the encoder disk 41 rotates normally due to the movement of the apparatus body 10 in the X direction, the photo sensor 43a
The projection light from the corresponding LEDs 42a and 42b enters in the order of → 43b and when reversed, in the order of 43b → 43a. That is, the encoder disk 41, the LEDs 42a, 42b, the photo sensors 43a, 43b
The encoder 44 is configured by the above. Then, the ink ribbon cassette 22 is attached to the printing unit 21 with the ribbon winding shaft 37 as a support shaft. in this case,
The thermal transfer ink ribbon 24 exposed in a part of the lower end portion of the ribbon cassette 22 is set by abutting on the head surface of the thermal head 27 arranged in the ribbon loading notch 26 of the apparatus main body 10. Here, the back cover 10a of the device body 10 is
The hinge 10b is configured to be openable and closable so that the ink ribbon cassette 22 can be easily replaced and the inside can be inspected. On the other hand, a circuit board 45 is arranged between the print section 21 and the front panel of the apparatus main body 10, and the keys and switches in FIG. 1 are connected to the encoder 44 and the thermal head 27 of the print section 21. It

FIG. 4 shows a structure of an electronic circuit formed on the circuit board 45. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 51 is a control unit, and the control unit 51 receives the mode change signal from the mode change switch 11. As input, various key input operation signals from the key input unit 12 and pulse signals corresponding to the movement amount of the apparatus main body 10 from the encoder 44, that is, the movement amount detection signal are input. Then, the control unit 51 converts the mode changeover switch 11 and various key operation signals from the key input unit 12 into a conversion data (key input data) storage unit 52, a display RAM 53, a kana / kanji conversion unit 54, a candidate kanji Storage unit 55, sentence data storage unit
56, controls the thermal head drive circuit 57. The conversion data storage unit 52 sequentially stores character and symbol data such as "kana" and "symbol" input by operating the character / symbol input key 14 and the function key 15 from the key input unit 12. The key input character / symbol data input to the storage unit 52 is stored in the display character generator 58 and the display RAM 53.
Is displayed on the display unit 13 via the. Kana / Kanji conversion unit 54
When a conversion signal is output from the control unit 51 in response to the operation of the Kana / Kanji conversion key 17 of the key input unit 12, “Kana” in the key input character symbol data stored in the conversion data storage unit 52 is A kanji search corresponding to characters is performed. At this time, kanji are searched in the order of fixed phrase → compound word → single kanji, and the searched kanji is stored in the candidate kanji storage unit 55 and read from the candidate kanji storage unit 55. And is displayed on the display unit 13. here,
In the case where the Kana / Kanji conversion unit 54 searches for a Kanji with a plurality of homonyms or homophones, and the display limit of the display unit 13 (for example, 8 characters for one lower line)
In the above case, when the next candidate signal is input from the control unit 51 by operating the next candidate key 18 of the key input unit 12, other undisplayed candidate kanji characters are read out and sequentially replaced and displayed. When a selection signal from the control unit 51 by operating the kanji selection keys 19a to 19f of the key input unit 12 is input to the candidate kanji storage unit 55, the selected kanji data is stored in the sentence data storage unit.
It is output to 56. On the other hand, of the key input data stored in the conversion data storage unit 52, the character / symbol data that does not require Kanji conversion is also transferred to and stored in the sentence data storage unit 56. That is, the sentence data storage unit 56 stores the document information created by the operation of the key input unit 12 as document character data consisting of kanji converted from kana / kanji, unconverted kana, katakana, symbols, and external characters.

The character and symbol data of each character of the document data stored in the text data storage unit 56 is output to the display unit 13 via the display character generator 58 and the display RAM 53, is displayed, and is also printed. The character is called as an actual character via the character generator 59 and output to the thermal head drive circuit 57. The thermal head drive circuit 57 receives the encoder pulse from the encoder 44 when the print mode signal is output from the control unit 51, and the character data input via the print character generator 59 in synchronization with this encoder pulse. Is transferred to the thermal head 27 line by line. In this case, the print quality of the thermal head 27 is, for example, 24
Since it is × 24 dots (full-width), the above-mentioned 1 line means 1/24 line of 1 character.

FIG. 5 shows the circuit configuration of the encoder 44, and FIG. 6 shows the operation waveforms of the encoder circuits a to d.
When the encoder pulses are received in the order of photosensors 43a → 43b due to the normal rotation of the encoder disk 41, the Q output of the flip-flop FF becomes “H” (high level), and the photosensor 43a receives the light. When the encoder pulse is output from the AND gate AND1 as it is, and when the encoder pulse is received in the order of the photo sensor 43b → 43a due to the reverse rotation of the encoder disk 41, the Q output of the flip-flop FF becomes “L” (low level). As a result, the encoder pulse is no longer output. That is, when the encoder disk 41 rotates in the reverse direction, the thermal head 27 is not driven even when the print mode PR is set.

 Next, the operation of the printing apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

First, to create a desired document, the mode selector switch 11 is operated to specify the word processing mode WP. Then
The control unit 51 is set to the word processor mode WP. here,
The user operates the key input unit 12 of the apparatus body 10 to sequentially input desired characters, symbols and the like.

First, the character / symbol input key 14 and the function key 15 are operated to key-in the document information to be created, and the input document data is sequentially transferred to the converted data storage unit 52 which is addressed via the control unit 51. It At the same time, the input document data is displayed in the character generator 58 for display and for display.
It is displayed on the display unit 13 via the RAM 53. And
When the Kana / Kanji conversion key 17 is operated after inputting the desired document, the Kana / Kanji conversion section 54 performs Kana / Kanji conversion processing in the order of fixed phrases → Ikugo → Single Kanji from the beginning of the input character. . Here, if the reading of the kana character matches any of the candidate kanji stored in the candidate kanji storage unit 55 in advance,
A kana character to be converted is indicated by a cursor k, and a candidate Chinese character string having the same sound is displayed in the lower part of the display unit. Here, when the user operates the kanji selection keys 19a to 19f to specify a desired kanji in the same-sound candidate kanji, the selection signal is output to the candidate kanji storage unit 55, and the conversion target kana character is converted to kanji. In addition, the next kana character to be converted is indicated by the cursor k. In this case, the converted Kanji data is transferred to and stored in the document data storage unit 56. After that, repeat the Kanji selection process again as above /
Perform kanji conversion.

Here, when the reading of the kana character that matches the kanji that does not need to be converted is displayed, the cursor key 16 is operated to indicate the desired kana character, and the candidate kanji that matches the reading is displayed. On the other hand, in the display state of the same-sound candidate kanji during the above series of kana / kanji conversion, if the desired kanji does not exist among the candidate kanji displayed on the display unit 13, the next candidate key 18 is operated to operate the control unit. The next candidate signal is output from 51 to the candidate Kanji storage unit 55. Then, other same-sound candidate kanji are replaced and displayed. If a desired kanji exists in the next candidate kanji, the kanji selection process similar to the above is repeated to perform kana / kanji conversion. If the desired Kanji is not displayed by the operation of the next candidate key 18 once,
Further, the next candidate key 18 is operated to display another homophone candidate kanji. Here, the kanji selected and designated by the kana / kanji conversion is sequentially transferred from the candidate kanji storage unit 55 to the sentence data storage unit 56. Kana characters and symbols that do not require kana / kanji conversion are By operating the invariant (unconverted) key of the function key 15, the data stored in the converted data storage unit 52 is transferred to the text data storage unit 56 as it is. By repeating the above-described character / symbol input processing, kana / kanji conversion processing, and kanji selection processing, a desired document is created and stored in the sentence data storage unit 56.

Next, the operation of printing out the document data created by key input as described above will be described.
To print the document data, switch the mode
Switch 11 to the print mode PR position. By switching the mode changeover switch 11, the control unit 51 is set to the print mode, the text data storage unit 56 is in a read state, and the thermal head drive circuit 57 is in a state of waiting for input of an encoder pulse from the encoder 44. In this state, the user sets the print head portion HA to the recording paper A as shown in FIG.
And press the print key 20 to move the apparatus main body 10 in the direction of arrow X. The rubber rollers 31, 32 rotate with the movement of the apparatus body 10, and the rotation is transmitted to the gears 34, 35a, 35b in FIG. And this gear 35a
The encoder disk 41 rotates with the rotation of the encoder disk 41, and the rotation of the encoder disk 41 causes the corresponding photosensors 43a, 43 from the LEDs 42a, 42b via the slits 41a, 41b ,.
The light sent to b is intermittently controlled. In this case, the device body 1
Since the encoder disk 41 is in the normal rotation state along with the movement of 0 in the X direction, the pulse signal output from the photosensor 43a becomes the output of the encoder 41, and the control unit 51 And sent to the thermal head drive circuit 57. The rotation of the rubber roller 31 is transmitted to the winding gear 36 and the ribbon winding shaft 36,
Further, it is transmitted to a take-up spool 23b in the ink ribbon cassette 22. As a result, the ribbon take-up spool 23b rotates, and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 24 guided from the ribbon delivery spool 23a through the ribbon loading notch 26 is taken up. In this case, the ribbon winding shaft 37 is
Recording paper A and ink ribbon 24
The ink ribbon 24 is rotated by the amount of movement of the apparatus main body 10 so as not to cause slippage, and the ink ribbon 24 is recorded by a thermal head 27 having a printing pressure constantly downward by springs of slide stays 28a and 28b. Lightly pressed against paper A. Here, at the time of printing movement of the apparatus main body 10 in the X direction, the winding gear 36 is in the normal rotation state, and the stopper arm 38
Are held in contact with the arm stopper 40. [Figure 3 (A)
reference].

On the other hand, the movement amount detection signal output as an encoder pulse from the photo sensor 43a is sent to the control unit 51 and the thermal head drive circuit 57 as an output signal of the encoder 44 as described above. Then, the control unit 51 sends the sentence data storage unit 56 in accordance with the movement amount detection signal from the encoder 44.
Memory addresses are sequentially designated, the document data stored therein is read, and this document data is output to the thermal head drive circuit 57 as individual character data through the printing character generator 59. The thermal head drive circuit 57 drives the thermal head 27 in synchronization with the movement amount detection signal from the encoder 44, that is, in synchronization with the reading timing of the document data by the control unit 51. By driving the thermal head 27, the document data is thermally transferred onto the recording paper A via the ink ribbon 24.
In this case, the ink ribbon
Ink ribbon 24 from the delivery spool 23a of the cassette 22
The unused portion of the cassette 22 is sent out, and the used portion after being thermally transferred by the thermal head 27 is sequentially wound around a winding spool 23b in the cassette 22. By moving the apparatus body 10 in the X direction as described above, the created document data stored in the text data
Are printed in sequence. In this case, since the small apparatus body 10 itself is moved to print on the recording paper A, the moving mechanism of the thermal head 27 in the sub-scanning direction and the recording paper A are used.
No feeding mechanism is required and no mechanism driving motor or the like is used, so that the power consumption for printing is extremely low.

Next, as described above, in the printing apparatus capable of performing the printing process by the manual operation, the printing error prevention operation when the apparatus main body 10 is moved, for example, in the direction opposite to the X direction due to the operation error of the user. Will be described.

For example, when the apparatus main body 10 is moved backward on the recording paper A, the reverse movement of the rubber roller 31 is also transmitted to the winding gear 36 via the gears 34, 35a, 35b. When this winding gear 36 rotates in the reverse direction, the stopper arm 38 rotates and stops until the stopper gear 39 provided at the tip of the winding gear 36 is fitted to the gear 35b [see FIG. 3 (B)]. ] At this time, gear 35b
The take-up gear 36 and the take-up gear 36 are prevented from rotating in a state in which the stopper gear 39 is pulled into each other. As a result, the reverse rotation of the rubber roller 31, the ribbon take-up shaft 37 and the encoder disk 41 is prevented, and the ink ribbon 24 is fed and the encoder pulse is output, as well as the operation of moving the apparatus main body 10 in the reverse direction. Since the operation is stopped, the printing error due to the reverse operation of the apparatus body 10 can be surely prevented. In this case, further, the encoder 44, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG.
Since no encoder pulse is output at the time of reverse rotation of 41, even if the main body 10 of the apparatus moves a little in the opposite direction until the stopper arm 38 is separated from the arm stopper 40 and stopped by fitting the stopper gear 39, the thermal head 27
Is not driven, and perfect printing error prevention is achieved.

Therefore, according to the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration, the sub-scanning mechanism of the thermal head 27 and the feeding mechanism of the recording paper A do not use a motor or the like, and not only small size and low power consumption printing processing can be performed but also the apparatus main body 10 It is possible to completely prevent a printing error due to an error in the moving operation of.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the rotation of the rotating body that rotates with the movement of the apparatus main body in the predetermined direction is transmitted to the take-up shaft of the printing target member via the rotation transmission gear. When the rotating body rotates in a direction opposite to the predetermined direction, the rotation preventing member is directly meshed with the rotation transmitting gear,
Since it is configured to prevent both the movement of the main body of the apparatus and the movement of the print-receiving member, it is possible to reliably prevent a printing error even if the user makes an operation error, for example, and it consumes less power. A small printing device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external configuration diagram showing a compact printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a printing part of the compact printing device, and FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B) are respectively the above-mentioned diagrams. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit of the small printing device, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing an encoder of the small printing device, and FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing an encoder of the small printing device. 6 is a timing chart showing operation waveforms of each part of the encoder circuit in FIG. 5; 10: Device body, 10a: Back cover, 10b: Hinge, 11 ...
Mode switch, 12 …… Key input section, 13 …… Display section, 14 …… Character / symbol input key, 15 …… Function key, 15a
…… Enter key, 16 …… Cursor key, 17 …… Kana / Kanji conversion key, 18 …… Next candidate key, 19a to 19f …… Kanji selection key, 20 …… Print key, 21 …… Print section, 22 ... … Ink ribbon cassette, 23a… Supply spool, 23b
...... Take-up spool, 24 ...... Thermal transfer ink ribbon, 25
...... Head notch, 26 …… Ribbon loading notch, 27 …… Thermal head, 28 …… Head mounting member,
28a, 28b …… Slide stay, 29,30 …… Opening, 31,32…
… Rubber roller, 33,34,35a, 35b …… Gear, 36 …… Winding gear, 37 …… Ribbon winding shaft, 38 …… Stopper arm,
39 …… Stopper gear, 40 …… Arm stopper, 41 …… Encoder disk, 41a, 41b, …… Slit, 42a, 42b…
… LED, 43a, 43b …… Photo sensor, 44 …… Encoder,
45 ... Circuit board, 51 ... Control section, 52 ... Conversion data storage section, 53 ... Display RAM, 54 ... Kana / Kanji conversion section, 55 ...
… Candidate Kanji storage unit, 56… Text data storage unit, 57… Thermal head drive circuit, 58… Display character generator, 59… Printing character generator.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A housing, at least one rotating body provided with a part of an outer peripheral surface of the housing protruding, a print head provided in the housing, and detachable from the housing. A belt-shaped member to be printed, a part of which is in contact with the print head when mounted, a transmission gear for transmitting rotation of the rotating body in a predetermined direction, and a rotation of the transmission gear. A take-up member having a gear to be transmitted and a rotation shaft of which is a take-up shaft of the print-receiving member; and a tooth of the transmission gear when the rotary body rotates in a direction opposite to the predetermined direction. A small-sized printing apparatus comprising: a blocking member that meshes with and blocks rotation of the transmission gear.