JPH026152A - Method of controlling carriage of thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the high quality of a printing even at the time of the exchange of an ink ribbon by interrupting printing when the disconnection of the ink ribbon is detected and it is recognized that a signal transmitted over a printing head forms a specific pattern. CONSTITUTION:When an ink ribbon disconnection detecting means 17 detects a ribbon-terminal display label 101 on an ink ribbon 37, it generates a detecting signal. Printing is interrupted at that time in conventional devices, but printing is continued, an interruption pattern recognizing means monitors a printing pattern during that time, and a printing interruption signal is generated to a processor when a specific non-printing pattern such as a blank space is detected. Accordingly, printing is not discontinued during the formation of a character pattern or a graphic pattern, and printing is suspended in the blank space section, thus absorbing the error of the machine accuracy of the movement of a carriage at the time of the reopening of printing, then acquiring the excellent result of printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a carriage of a thermal transfer printer, and the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a carriage of a thermal transfer printer. The present invention relates to a carriage control method and apparatus for a thermal transfer printer that can obtain good printing results, and an ink ribbon cassette suitable for the same.

[Prior Art] In recent years, the electrical parts of thermal transfer printers have developed significantly.
For example, print heads with up to 64 dots have been introduced using thin film technology, and the quality of print is becoming higher.

On the other hand, thermal transfer printers are said to have high running costs because they print using ribbons that cannot be recycled. Therefore, efforts have been made to reduce running costs as much as possible. As a method to reduce running costs, when the ribbon runs out while printing on paper, a method is used that allows the paper to be used again after replacing the ribbon, so that the printing that has been completed halfway is not wasted. There is. This method is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-24483. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of this prior art.

In the device shown in Fig. 2, 1 is a processor, 2 is a read-only memory (2) that stores programs and character patterns.
(hereinafter referred to as ROM), 3 is a line buffer that stores character patterns and graphics to be printed, 4 is a print completion address register that stores the position where printing is completed, and 5 is a unit that receives print information from an information terminal device such as a personal computer. Interface control circuit, 6 line feed control circuit, 7 line feed motor, 8
1 is a character generation circuit that generates a print pattern; 9 is a carriage control circuit; 10 is a carriage motor; 11 is a ribbon drive control circuit that winds up a used ink ribbon;
14 is a print head control circuit, 14 is a ribbon cassette mounted on a carriage, 37 is an ink ribbon, 15 is an ink ribbon take-up shaft, 16 is a print head, and 17 is an ink ribbon breakage detection device.

The operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 2 will be explained in the case where the ribbon cassette 14 is mounted on the carriage and the ink ribbon 37 is wound around the ink ribbon take-up shaft 15 in conjunction with printing. Reads and operates. Print data is sent via the interface control circuit 5 from a host information device such as a personal computer. If this print data is a print code, the processor 1 reads the corresponding character pattern from the character generation circuit 8,
When data for one line is written to line buffer 3, processor 1
reads the print pattern from the line buffer 3 and sends it to the print head control circuit 13. Print head control circuit 13
gives a print pattern to the print head 16, and heats the heating element of the print head 16 based on this print pattern.

The processor 1 simultaneously controls the carriage control circuit 9 to drive the carriage motor 10 to move the ribbon cassette 14 mounted together with the carriage.

At the same time, the processor 1 also controls the ribbon control circuit 11 to drive the ink ribbon take-up shaft 15 of the ribbon cassette 14 to take up the ink ribbon 37 sequentially as printing progresses. The ink on the ink ribbon 37 is sent to the print head 1.
The characters are melted by the heated heating element No. 6 and transferred to the paper. A mark indicating the end of the ink ribbon 37 is detected by the ink ribbon breakage detection bag W117. This detection signal is reported to the processor 1 via the ribbon drive control device 11.

When the processor 1 receives the signal from the ink ribbon runout detection device i17, it stores in the print completion register 4 the position of the line buffer 3 at which printing has been completed. Then, the print head control circuit 13 is controlled so that the print head 1
Stop heating the heating element 6 and notify the operator that the ink ribbon is finished.

At the same time, the carriage control circuit 9 is controlled to stop driving the carriage motor 10, and the movement of the carriage is also stopped.

When the operator replaces the ink ribbon cassette 14 and presses the switch to restart printing, the processor 1 first turns on the power to the carriage in order to detect that the ink ribbon has run out and return the carriage accurately to the position where printing was stopped. In order to return the print head to the position immediately after that (print position is 0), and then position the print head 16 at the position where no ink ribbon was detected stored in the print completion address register 4, that is, to resume printing, The carriage control circuit 9 is controlled and the carriage motor 10 is driven to move the carriage.

This prevents the print result from shifting due to carriage shift when the user replaces the ink ribbon 14.

The end of the ink ribbon is detected by attaching a ribbon end indicator label made of a material with a different reflectance from the ink ribbon, such as silver paper, onto the ink ribbon, and detecting the end of the ribbon based on the difference in reflectance (hereinafter referred to as the reflection detection method). This is done using a method (hereinafter abbreviated as "transmission detection method") in which ribbon end display labels made of materials with different transmittances are attached and the ribbon ends are detected based on the difference in transmittance.

Both the reflection detection method and the transmission detection method use a ribbon end label to detect the end of the ink ribbon, but in the area where the ribbon end label is attached, printing is not possible because the ribbon end label is in the area used for printing on the ink ribbon. Therefore, when the end of the ink ribbon is detected, printing is immediately interrupted to prevent missing prints.

[Problem M to be Solved by the Invention] Currently, in thermal transfer printers, in order to reduce the size and cost of the device, it is necessary to compromise mechanical accuracy to some extent. in general.

The carriage movement accuracy is about 1/180 inch ±10%, and if the carriage is moved to the position immediately after the power is turned on and then repositioned as in the conventional technology, it is possible to eliminate unreasonable carriage misalignment caused by manual work, but the carriage Mechanical accuracy errors in movement cannot be eliminated. That is,
The above conventional technology.

No consideration was given to the relationship between the mechanical precision of the thermal transfer printer and the print pattern stored in the line buffer. As a result, as shown in Figure 3, the balance of the printed characters and graphics is disrupted, such as - vertical blank lines appearing within the characters, and - rows of dots clumping horizontally within the characters. , which resulted in deterioration of print quality.

An object of the present invention is to provide a carriage control device for a thermal transfer printer that can maintain high print quality even when replacing an ink ribbon without making the mechanical accuracy higher than necessary, and an ink ribbon end detection method suitable for the same. , an apparatus and an ink ribbon cassette.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A carriage control method for a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention includes:
In a carriage control method for a thermal transfer printer having an ink ribbon breakage detection means for detecting an ink ribbon breakage, after the ink ribbon breakage is detected, at the time when it is recognized that the signal given to the print head is a specific pattern, This is characterized by interrupting printing.

The "specific pattern" is a pattern unrelated to printing, such as a blank pattern.

It is also desirable to interrupt printing when the specific pattern is not detected within a predetermined period after the ink ribbon has run out.

A carriage control device for a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention includes:
A carriage control device having an ink ribbon breakage detection means for detecting an ink ribbon breakage, comprising an interruption pattern recognition means for recognizing whether a signal given to a print head is a specific pattern, the interruption pattern recognition means and the ink ribbon. The present invention is characterized in that it includes printing interruption signal generating means for generating a control signal for interrupting printing in accordance with the surface output of the detection means.

In addition to the means for recognizing the specific pattern, the interruption pattern recognition means includes a counting means for counting the number of printed patterns after the ink ribbon runs out, and compares the counted value with a predetermined value, and prints when a match occurs. It is desirable to have a comparison means for outputting an interruption signal.

The ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention is an ink ribbon cassette for a thermal transfer printer that detects ink ribbon breakage by detecting a ribbon end display label provided on the ink ribbon, and is located in a position that allows printing to continue even after the ribbon end display label is detected. , characterized in that the ribbon end display label is provided. For example, it is provided on a side portion of the ink ribbon that is not used for printing at a position before the end of the ink ribbon.

Note that in this specification, the term "printing" is not limited to characters, but also includes printing of graphics and the like.

[Operation] When the ink ribbon breakage detection means detects a ribbon end display label on the ink ribbon, it generates a detection signal. Conventionally, printing is interrupted at this point, but in the present invention, printing is not interrupted. Printing is further continued, during which time the interruption pattern recognition means monitors the printing pattern and generates a printing interruption signal to the processor when a specific non-printing pattern such as a blank is detected. As a result, printing is not interrupted in the middle of a character pattern or graphic pattern, but printing is interrupted at a blank area, so when printing resumes, mechanical precision errors in carriage movement can be absorbed, resulting in high-quality printing results. can get.

On the other hand, in the ink ribbon cassette, the ribbon end display label is provided at a position that allows printing to continue even after the ribbon end label is detected, so there is no problem in continuing printing after the end label is detected.

If the specific pattern is not detected for a certain period of time even after the end label is detected, a print interruption signal is forcibly generated.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention.

The same elements as in FIG. 2 of the prior art are given the same numbers.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 12 denotes an interruption pattern recognition device which is the most characteristic feature of the present invention. In this embodiment, the interruption pattern will be explained as being blank (no printing). Further, the processor 1 controls the respective control circuits.

The processing operation of this embodiment will be explained below. The process is the same as the conventional technology until the ink ribbon breakage is detected. That is, the processor 1 reads a program stored in the ROM 2 and operates. Print data is sent via the interface control circuit 5 from a host information device such as a personal computer. If the print data is a print code, the processor 1 reads the corresponding character pattern from the character generation circuit 8 and writes it into the line buffer 3. The following operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG. When one line of data is written to line buffer 3, processor 1
reads the print pattern from the line buffer 3.
4) Sending the print pattern to the print head control circuit 13 via the interruption pattern recognition device 12 (25) The interruption pattern recognition device 12 sends the print pattern to the print head control circuit 13 via the interruption pattern recognition device 12. !
While the ink ribbon break signal from 117 is not generated, the print pattern is sent to the print head control circuit 13 as it is.
Send to. Then, the print head control circuit 13 applies a print pattern to the print head 16, and heats the heating element of the print head 16 based on the print pattern.

At the same time, the processor 1 controls the carriage control circuit 9 to operate the carriage motor 10ti-IM to move the ribbon cassette 14 mounted together with the carriage (26).

At the same time, the processor 1 also controls the ribbon control circuit 11 to actuate the ink ribbon winding shaft 15 of the ribbon cassette 14 to sequentially wind up the ink ribbon 37 as printing progresses (28). The ink is melted by the heated heating element of the print head 16 and transfers the pattern to the paper. Every time one line of printing is completed (28)
, line feed (35), and repeat these operations to print graphics and text on the paper.

A mark indicating the end of the ink ribbon 37 is detected by the ink ribbon breakage detection device 17. This detection signal is reported to the interruption pattern recognition device 12.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit diagram of the interruption pattern recognition device 12 and its peripheral parts. In this figure, the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers. 3 is a line buffer, 11 is a ribbon drive control circuit, 13 is a print head control circuit, 14 is a ribbon cassette, 17 is an ink ribbon breakage detection device, and 16 is a print head. The interruption pattern recognition device 12 includes a blank detection gate 18 and a gate circuit 19.

The operation after detection of ink ribbon breakage will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 6. Since the processor 1 has not yet recognized that the ink ribbon has run out, the contents of the line buffer 3 are transferred to the print head control circuit 13 via the interruption pattern recognition device 12, sent to the print head 16, and transferred to paper as before. are doing. Now, when the ink ribbon breakage detection device 17 detects the ink ribbon breakage 29) and sends out a detection signal, the gate 19 opens. Then, the print pattern in the line buffer 3 is sequentially sent by the processor 1 to the interruption pattern recognition device 12 (30), and a blank detection gate 18 determines whether or not it is blank (31). Here, if the print pattern of the line buffer 3 sent by the processor 1 is blank, the output of the blank detection gate 18 is sent to the ribbon drive control circuit 11 as an interruption signal via the gate 19.
and is reported to processor 1. When the processor 1 receives the interruption signal from the interruption pattern recognition device 12, it stores in the printing completion register 4 the position of the line buffer 3 at which printing has been completed, as in the prior art described above (36).
. Then, the print head control circuit 13 is controlled to interrupt the heating of the heating element of the print head 16 and notify the operator that the ink ribbon has ended. At the same time, the carriage control circuit 9 is controlled to stop driving the carriage motor 10, and the movement of the carriage is also stopped. Therefore, after the operator replaces the ink ribbon cassette 14 and gives a restart instruction, the processor 1 returns to the position immediately after the power is turned on (initial position M).
) and then according to the information stored in the print completion address register 4.

In order to position the print head 16 at the position where the blank pattern should be printed after the ink ribbon break is detected (that is, the position where printing is resumed), the carriage control circuit 9 is controlled and the carriage motor 10 is driven to move the carriage. .

As explained above, printing is interrupted when blank printing is performed after the ink ribbon runs out, and the operator is notified that the ink ribbon is out. Even if deviations occur due to mechanical precision, the deviations are not noticeable and high-quality printing results can be obtained.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a blank space is recognized as an interruption pattern, but the pattern to be interrupted is not specified. Further, the interruption pattern recognition device 12 is a general-purpose NA
This can be easily realized by a combination of ND and AND circuits.

Note that, as a premise of the present invention, it is necessary that printing can be continued for a certain period of time even after the ink ribbon is detected to be out. The configuration for this will be described later.

However, there is a limit to the number of print patterns that can be printed after ink ribbon breakage is detected. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, there is provided a counting device 2o that counts the number of printed patterns after the ink ribbon breakage is detected, a register 21 that stores the number of patterns that can be printed after the ink ribbon breakage is detected, and the counting device 20.
A comparator 22 (COM
P), and the OR circuit 23 receiving both outputs of the comparison device 22 and the AND circuit 19 is connected to the interruption pattern recognition device of FIG. ! Add to 12. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, after the ink ribbon runs out is detected, the pattern is printed as much as possible (32) and the number of times is counted (33) until the number of times reaches the predetermined number N (34). ), if no interruption pattern occurs, printing can be forcibly interrupted to prevent malfunction (36).

Next, an embodiment of an ink ribbon cassette and an ink ribbon end detection device according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 10 shows a configuration diagram of the printer seen from a different perspective from FIG. 1. In the same figure, reference numeral 121 denotes a mechanical component that realizes actual printing operations such as printing and paper feeding.

A printer mechanical unit 122 consisting of a motor and the like is a print control unit that controls the print timing and print density of print data of characters and figures, and a carriage movement control unit 123 is a carriage movement control unit that controls the movement of the carriage 105 (described later) and the position of the print head 16. 124 is a paper feed control unit that performs paper feed control in a direction perpendicular to the printing direction such as paper feed and paper return; 125 is an abnormality detection unit that controls the ribbon end detection means 3; 126 is a print control unit 122 of the printer; Carriage movement control section 123
The CPU that controls the entire isovolume section, 127 is the CPU 12
128 is an input/output control unit that controls the connection between the printer and an external device such as a personal computer;
Reference numeral 9 denotes a system bus consisting of data lines and control lines connecting various parts.

FIG. 11 is a detailed diagram of the printer mechanism section 121. 13
Reference numeral 1 denotes a paper feed motor that rotates a platen 106 (described later) under the control of a paper feed control unit 124 during paper feeding, return, etc., and 132 a carriage movement motor that moves the carriage 105 under the control of a carriage movement control unit 123. be.

FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the area around the carriage. 1 is a ribbon end display label that indicates the distance to the end of the ink ribbon 37; 16 is a print head that prints characters, figures, etc. on print paper using the ink ribbon 37; 103 is a ribbon that detects the ribbon end display label 101; End detection means; 37 is an ink ribbon for printing characters, figures, etc. output by the print head 2 on printing paper; 105 is a carriage that moves the print head 16 in the printing direction while feeding the ink ribbon 37 in accordance with printing; 106 is paper feed.

This is a platen for sending back. FIG. 4 is a view of FIG. 9 showing details around the carriage, viewed from the right direction perpendicular to the surface of the ink ribbon 37.

In FIG. 10, the CPU 126 operates the input/output control section 1 according to the printer control procedure stored in the memory 127.
Input the data of characters and figures to be printed from 28. The input character/graphic data is output to the print head 16 of the printer mechanical section 121 while being controlled by the print control section. In parallel, the carriage control unit controls the carriage 105.
move. The print head 16 is fixed to the carriage 105 and moves in the printing direction as the carriage 105 moves. Similarly, the ink ribbon 37 on the carriage 105 moves in the opposite direction to the printing direction.

The printing operation is performed by the above three operations proceeding simultaneously.

In FIG. 11, during printing, the ribbon end sensor 103 detects the ribbon end display label 101 on the ink ribbon 37 while moving in the printing direction together with the carriage 105.

The detected ribbon end information is processed by the abnormality detection unit 125.

In FIG. 1, the ribbon end display label 101 is located at a position that does not overlap the print area through which the print head 16 passes on the ink ribbon 37, and even when the ribbon end display label 101 is detected by the ribbon end detection means 103, printing is not performed. It is possible.

FIG. 12 is a view of FIG. 9 viewed from the right direction perpendicular to the surface of the ink ribbon 37. The ink ribbon 37 moves to the left during the printing operation, and the print head 16 and ribbon end detection means 103 are fixed because they are on the carriage 105. The ribbon end display label 101 is attached to the ink ribbon 37 and moves to the left. In FIG. 12, the ribbon end display label 101 first passes through a ribbon end detection means 103, and the distance to the end of the ink ribbon 37 is detected. The ribbon end indicator label 101 then passes over the print head 16.

Since the printing area and the ribbon end display label 101 do not overlap, no printing occurs. Therefore, there is no need to interrupt printing to prevent missing prints, and the ribbon end display label 101 can be attached to any position before the end of the ink ribbon 37. As a result, the end of the ink ribbon 37 can be determined by moving the ink ribbon 37 any distance from the point in time when the end of the ribbon is detected. Note that if the distance from the affixing position of the ribbon end display label to the actual end of the ink ribbon is too short, the effect of the present invention will be reduced, and if it is not long, the ink ribbon will be wasted. It is desirable that the length be appropriate.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent missing printing when the ribbon end display label 101 is detected, by continuing printing even after the ribbon end display label 101 is detected and interrupting the printing at a blank area.

As explained above, even if the ribbon force setter 1- is replaced and printing is resumed after the printing operation is interrupted due to the ink ribbon running out, gaps and dots in the characters due to the mechanical precision of the carriage as shown in Figure 3 may occur. You can obtain well-balanced, high-quality printing results without crushing.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, since printing is interrupted to target a blank space, even if printing is supported to restart, the blank interval Q is Ω0. This is only slightly different from Q2, and does not affect the quality of printed characters or graphics (40, 41, 42, 43). It goes without saying that this makes it possible to effectively utilize paper that has been partially printed due to the ink ribbon running out as an official document, and is also highly economical.

In addition, although the interruption pattern recognition means was constructed by hardware in the above embodiment, it is also possible to implement it by software.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent missing printing when a ribbon end display label is detected during printing, and there is no need to interrupt printing as a countermeasure against missing printing, and it is not necessary to interrupt printing or replace the ink ribbon after printing is interrupted. Also, it is possible to prevent deterioration of print quality such as print deviation due to a series of operations to continue printing.

Further, the position of the ribbon end display label on the ink ribbon can be set as the end of the ink ribbon at an arbitrary position after the ribbon end display label is detected.

By setting the ribbon end label at the point where printing always ends, such as one line or ]-page,
Perform the processing when the ribbon end display label is detected at the end of printing one line or one page.

Processing when detecting the ribbon end label becomes easier and reliability is improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the prior art, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of problems in the prior art, and FIG. 4 is the interruption pattern recognition device of FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the peripheral portion thereof, FIG. 5 is another block diagram of the interruption pattern recognition device, FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the operation of the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the present invention, FIG. 9 is a detailed diagram of the vicinity of the carriage of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram of another printer.
FIG. 11 is a detailed diagram of the printer mechanism, and FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the operation when the end of the ribbon is detected. 17... Ribbon breakage detection device 16... Print head 12... Interruption pattern recognition device 101... Ribbon end display label 103... Ribbon end detection means 37... Ink ribbon 105... Carriage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a carriage control method for a thermal transfer printer having ink ribbon breakage detection means for detecting ink ribbon breakage, after the ink ribbon breakage is detected, a signal given to the print head is in a specific pattern. A method for controlling a carriage of a thermal transfer printer, characterized in that printing is interrupted when a certain condition is recognized. 2. Even when the specific pattern is not detected within a predetermined period after the ink ribbon breakage is detected,
2. The method of controlling a carriage of a thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, further comprising interrupting printing. 3. In a carriage control device for a thermal transfer printer having ink ribbon breakage detection means for detecting ink ribbon breakage, the interruption pattern recognition means recognizes whether or not a signal given to the print head is a specific pattern; 1. A carriage control device for a thermal transfer printer, comprising: means for generating a control signal for interrupting printing in response to outputs from both the ink ribbon detecting means and the ink ribbon detecting means. 4. In addition to the means for recognizing the specific pattern, the interruption pattern recognition means includes a counting means for counting the number of printed patterns after the ink ribbon runs out, and compares the counted value with a predetermined value to determine whether the number of patterns matches. 4. The carriage control device for a thermal transfer printer according to claim 3, further comprising comparison means for outputting a printing interruption signal at certain times. 5. In an ink ribbon cassette for a thermal transfer printer that detects ink ribbon breakage by detecting a ribbon end display label provided on the ink ribbon, the ribbon end display is placed at a position that allows printing to continue even after the ribbon end display label is detected. An ink ribbon cassette for thermal transfer printers characterized by being provided with a label.