JPH02143889A - color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to color blinking, which performs color printing by sequentially overlapping ink of a plurality of colors on paper.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, there have been thermal transfer color printers (hereinafter simply referred to as printers) that perform color printing by sequentially overlapping yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks. A conventional example of this printer using a three-color ribbon will be described.

First, a sheet of paper is set at a predetermined printing start position, and a corresponding color portion is selected from the ink ribbon 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the ink ribbon 1 is divided into ink parts of three colors, yellow (Y), mine ink (M), and cyan (C) sequentially in its length direction, and color identification is made between each color. marker 2, and a tip identification marker 3 at the tip of the Y color.
is provided, and during printing, the ink portions of the three corresponding colors (Y in this case) are located. As shown in FIG. 8, this cueing is performed by detecting the tip identification marker 3 or the color identification marker 2 with a sensor 5 provided on the ribbon feeding side from the thermal head 4. Thereafter, this ink portion is used to drive the thermal head 4 to print Y color on the paper. During this time, the paper feeding means is linked to the printing operation and feeds the paper in a predetermined printing direction.

In this way, when printing for one color (Y) is completed, the paper is fed backwards and returned to the above-mentioned printing start position, and
The ink ribbon 1 is aligned with the next printing color (M in this case) and the M color identification marker 2 is located at the beginning. After the paper and the ink ribbon 1 are aligned, the thermal head 4 is driven to print M color while feeding the paper in the printing direction.

Thereafter, the same operation is repeated for the 0th color, and color printing is performed by superimposing the 3 colors.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the printer described above, the ink ribbon 1 continues to be fed after passing the thermal head 4 until it reaches the sensor 5, and the ink portion of the ink ribbon 1 between the sensor 5 and the thermal head 4 is Since it cannot be used for printing, the use of the ink ribbon 1 is inefficient.

An object of the present invention is to provide a color printer that makes efficient use of ink ribbons.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) A color printer of the present invention is a color printer that performs color printing by sequentially overlapping a plurality of colors of ink on paper, in which the ink of the plurality of colors is divided in the feeding direction, and for each division. an ink ribbon having a tip identification mark and a speed detection mark provided at equal intervals in the feeding direction; a conveyance means for conveying the ink ribbon; and a tip identification sign provided on the opposite side of the head in the conveyance direction a tip detection means for detecting a surface mark; a speed detection means for detecting the speed detection mark and detecting the speed of the ink ribbon; A printing means for printing on paper; and a control means for stopping the conveying means at a predetermined time after the leading end of the ink ribbon is detected by the leading end detecting means according to the speed of the ink ribbon detected by the speed detecting means. It is something.

(Function) In the color printer of the present invention, the ink ribbon is conveyed by the conveying means, the speed of the ink ribbon is detected by the speed detecting means according to the detection by the speed sensor which detects the speed of the ink ribbon, and the tip detecting means detects the speed of the ink ribbon. detects the nine-seat identification mark at the end of the ink ribbon, and according to the speed of the ink ribbon detected by the speed detection means, the control means stops the conveying means after a predetermined time, and the printing means detects the corresponding ink ribbon from the ink ribbon. The ink portion is marked 1!1 on the paper by driving the head.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of a color printer of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, the thermal transfer color printer performs color printing by sequentially overlapping multiple colors of ink on paper, and the ink ribbon 11 has a leading edge for each ink section divided in the transport direction. Printing means 16 having identification markings 12 and speed detection markings 13 provided at equal intervals in the feeding direction, and driving a thermal head 14 to print an ink portion of a corresponding color on paper 15; and this ink ribbon 11. A conveying means 17 is provided for conveying. Also, a tip detection means 18 for detecting a tip @ identification mark 12 representing the tip of each color of the ink ribbon 11 and a speed detection cloth m1.
3, a control means 20 is connected to the tip detection means 18 and the speed detection means 19, and the Lll 1m means 20 detects the speed after detecting the tip of the ink ribbon 11. Ink ribbon 11
The control means 20 stops the transport means 17 according to the speed.

In FIG. 2, the paper 15 shown in FIG. 1 is guided and supported by a paper feed mechanism 21 and a printing platen 22.
The paper is sent in a predetermined printing direction and in a reverse feeding direction opposite to this. The paper feeding mechanism 21 operates according to instructions from the paper feeding means.
A reversibly operated stepping motor 23 and rollers 24, 25 driven by the stepping motor 23.
Consists of.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ink ribbon 11 has multiple colors, such as yellow (Y) and magenta (M
), cyan (C) ink, and a color identification marker 26 is provided at the tip between each color, and a tip identification marker 12 as a tip identification mark is provided at the tip of Y color, and On one side of the ink ribbon 11, speed detection markers 13 are provided as speed detection means, which are provided at equal intervals and with the same width in the feeding direction, and as shown in FIG.
It is mounted on the color selection mechanism 27. The color selection mechanism 27 is
By the color selection command, the ink areas Y, M, shown in FIG.
The one corresponding to C is positioned at the printing position, that is, between the platen 22 and the thermal head 14 in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ribbon supply reel 28, the take-up reel 29, the guide roller 30, and the tip detection means shown in FIGS. The winding reel 29 is driven by a DC motor 33.

The printing head 14 performs predetermined printing on the paper 15 based on the print command from the printing means 16 shown in FIG. 1, and is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) during printing operation as shown in FIG. , is in pressure contact with the platen 22 via the paper 15 and the ink ribbon 11, and the space between it and the platen 22 is opened during paper feeding other than during printing operations.

In the figure, 34 is a feed gap sensor, and 35 is an auto feed sensor, both of which detect the feeding state of the paper 15.

Next, the control section will be explained with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPIJ), which is connected via a bus 38 to various units to be described later, and centrally controls these units. 39 is read-only memory (hereinafter referred to as ROM)
The program executed by the CPU 37 and its fixed data are stored therein. 40 is a random access memory (hereinafter referred to as RAM), which stores various data in a reversible state. In addition to this storage device, R
A RAM card 42 etc. are prepared via the A-1 card interface 41, and a static RAM (SRAM) 43 for power outage is provided.
3 is also equipped with a backup circuit 44.

Here, the CPU 37 functions as the printing means 16, the speed detection means 19, and the control means 20 shown in FIG. 1 by executing the program stored in the ROM 39, and the output of each of these means is , inputs to each means, etc. are input/output via the bus 38 by each section to be described later. That is, the print command by the printing means 16 is output to the print data drive circuit 46, where the thermal head 1
The signal is converted into a signal for four drives and output to the thermal head 14. Further, the print feed command and reverse feed command are output to the stepping motor driver 41. Thereby, the stepping motor 23 is controlled to rotate by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction. The color selection command from the printing means 16 is output to the ribbon motor driver 48. As a result, the DC motor 33 is controlled to select the ink portion of the corresponding color from the ink portions Y1M and Y1C in the ink ribbon 11.

49 is a sensor interface, which includes a tip sensor 18, a speed sensor 31, and each sensor 34.3 for detecting the paper feeding state.
It is used to input the detection signal from 5. Here, the detection signal from the tip sensor 18 is used for color selection control in the printing means 16, and the detection signal from the speed sensor 31 is used for CP
Used for U 37. Further, detection signals from the sensors 34 and 35 for detecting the paper feeding state are used for paper feeding control in the paper feeding means.

A communication interface 50 performs various data transmissions with the host computer 51.

Next, the operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When a print request is made, urgent print data of yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) transmitted from the host computer 51 is received. In response to the drawing command, the print data of the plural colors Y, M, and C are drawn in the print data image buffer. When the drawing of the print data M colors for one color is completed in this way, the printing means 16 first outputs a color selection command to perform printing based on the drawn data, and selects the color shown in FIG. The mechanism 27 transports the ink ribbon 11 shown in FIG. 3 in the first transport stage 17 (step (2)), and selects the corresponding Y color ink portion. At this time, the time of the black level of the ink ribbon 11 is measured at regular intervals based on the detection signal from the speed sensor 31 (step (2)), and the speed of the ink ribbon 11 is calculated by the speed detection means 19. When the tip identification marker 12 indicating the Y-color tip of the ink ribbon 11 is detected by the tip j2 sensor 18 (step ■), the tip sensor 18 and the thermal head 14 is determined (step ■), the conveyance means 17 conveys the ink ribbon 11 for the time determined in step ■, and the control means 20 stops the conveyance means 17 (step (2) Align the tip of the ink ribbon 11 with the thermal head 14. That is, this ink portion is driven to a position facing the thermal head 14 as shown above. Further, the paper 15 is positioned at a predetermined printing start position by the paper feeding means via the paper feeding mechanism 21 shown in FIG.

In this state, the thermal head 14 is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) so as to press against the platen 22 shown in FIG. 2. In this press-contact state, the thermal head 14 transfers the data drawn on the image buffer to the paper 1 through the Y color ink portion of the ink ribbon 11.
5 Print on top. Therefore, printing is performed on the paper 15 in Y (yellow) color. Further, in rapid response to this printing operation, the paper 15 is sent in a predetermined printing direction by the paper feeding means via the paper feeding mechanism 21.

When printing of the Y color is completed in this manner, the paper feeding means reversely transports the paper 15 to the original printing start position in order to overlap the printing of the next color.

When the printing data of M color is drawn in the image buffer, the printing means 16 repeats the above-described series of operations to perform printing based on the drawn data, and prints the data of Y as described above.
Overlay the printed part of the color.

In this manner, when printing of M color is completed, the paper feeding means reversely feeds the paper to a predetermined printing start position in order to overlap printing with the next color C (cyan).

Thereafter, as described above, the series of operations shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is repeated, and the C (cyan) color printing is superimposed on the Y (yellow) and M (magenta) printed portions.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, after the leading end of the ink ribbon is detected by the leading end detecting means according to the speed of the ink ribbon detected by the speed detecting means, the control means stops the conveying means at a predetermined time, thereby controlling the speed of the ink ribbon. Since the tip of the ink ribbon is aligned with the head, the ink ribbon can be used economically.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing the constituent elements of a color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a structural diagram showing an embodiment of the transfer color printer shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 explains the operation. FIG. 4 is a developed view showing the ink parts of each color on the ink ribbon shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement of the head and sensor of the apparatus shown in FIG.
The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control section used in the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 7 is a developed view showing the ink parts of each color in the ink ribbon of the conventional apparatus, and Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control section used in the apparatus shown in Fig. 7. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement of a head and a sensor. 11... Ink ribbon, 12... Tip identification marker as tip identification mark, 13... Speed detection marker as speed detection means, 14... Head, 15... Paper, 16... Printing means, 17... Conveying means, 18... Tip sensor as tip detecting means, 19... Speed detecting means, 20... Control means.多」ri east line gu・υ

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a color printer that performs color printing by sequentially overlapping multiple colors of ink on paper, the multiple colors of ink are divided in the feeding direction, and the tip identification markings for each division are provided at equal intervals in the feeding direction. an ink ribbon having a speed detection mark, a conveyance means for conveying the ink ribbon; a tip detection means provided on the opposite side of the head in the conveyance direction for detecting the tip identification mark; a speed detecting means for detecting the speed of the ink ribbon by detecting a surface mark; a printing means for driving the head to print an ink portion of a corresponding color from the ink ribbon on a sheet of paper; and the speed detecting means 1. A color printer comprising: a control means for stopping the conveying means at a predetermined time after the leading end of the ink ribbon is detected by the leading end detecting means in accordance with the speed of the ink ribbon detected by the color printer.