JPH03161380A - Printing control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve printing speed and accuracy by allowing a printing head to descend or perform printing regardless of the presence of space information in print data, if a ribbon cassette is not attached. CONSTITUTION:A detection device 24 to detect the presence of a ribbon cassette is provided and when the ribbon cassette is attached, a printing head is allowed to ascend using a mechanism 10 to stop the winding up of an ink ribbon using a mechanism 11, if specified space information is present in print data. Next, if the ribbon cassette is not attached, printing is performed with the printing head kept in a descent position by the mechanism 10 regardless of the presence of space information in print data.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a printing control system for a thermal printer equipped with a thermal head, a removable ribbon cassette, and capable of performing thermal transfer printing and thermal printing.

(Ex) Conventional technology Conventionally, word processors and the like have a thermal head, and the thermal head is pressed against recording paper via an ink ribbon, and the ink on the ink ribbon is melted by heat and transferred to the recording paper. Thermal transfer printers are widely used. For such thermal transfer printers,
As disclosed in Publication No. 3 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-5278, in order to prevent staining of recording paper and wasteful consumption of ink ribbon, it is necessary to check whether there is space information in print data or not. Conventionally, if there is space information, the thermal head is raised to release the pressure on the recording paper and stop feeding the ink ribbon. It is called a function. Furthermore, as mentioned above, thermal transfer printers have a thermal head, so if you use thermal paper as the recording paper and remove the ink ribbon and lower the head and press it directly against the thermal paper, you can also perform thermal printing. What can be done is generally well known. (c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In order to use a thermal transfer printer for both thermal transfer printing and thermal printing, the user basically only needs to select the recording paper and attach/detach the ribbon cassette. good.

However, when thermal printing is performed using a thermal transfer printer with the above-mentioned ribbon save function, the head is pressed directly against the paper without using the ribbon, so the head is pressed against the paper depending on the space information. If the release is repeated, a problem arises in that, compared to thermal transfer printing, the paper bends unevenly and print accuracy deteriorates.

Also, when the head moves up and down depending on the space information,
There is also the problem that the printing speed decreases accordingly.

(2) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a removable ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon, a thermal head, a head elevating mechanism for elevating the head, and a head elevating mechanism linked to the elevating and lowering of the head. A thermal printer equipped with a ribbon winding mechanism for controlling winding of the ink ribbon, further comprising a detection means for detecting a mounting state of the ribbon cassette, and as a result of the detection, when the ribbon cassette is mounted. , when there is predetermined space information in the print data, the head is raised and winding of the ink ribbon is stopped, and when the ribbon cassette is not installed, regardless of the presence or absence of space information in the print data. First, the above problem is solved by printing with the head lowered. (E) Function In the present invention, simply by attaching and detaching the ribbon cassette, the ribbon save function is automatically enabled for thermal transfer printing and disabled for thermal printing. In other words, in thermal printing, printing is performed while the head is lowered, without moving up or down. (f) Embodiment FIG. 2 shows the main parts of the serial printer in the embodiment of the present invention, in which (20) is a ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon (2l), and (23) is a ribbon cassette mounted. It is a carriage, and the carriage (23) has
In order to detect the mounting state of the ribbon cassette 20>, a sensor (24) is provided which changes its function depending on the mounting/detaching.

Further, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a word processor as an embodiment including the printer device shown in FIG. (3) is a CRT display as a display means, (4) is a text memory that stores documents, (5) is a font memory that stores dot patterns, and (6) is thermal transfer printing or thermal printing. (7) is a print control unit that controls printing; (8) is a print buffer that stores print data; (9) is a head elevation control that controls the elevation of the head. 10) is a head elevating mechanism that raises and lowers the head, and (11) is linked to the head elevating mechanism and stops winding the ink ribbon when the head is lifted and the pressure of the head on the paper is released. , a ribbon winding mechanism that enables winding of the ink ribbon when the head is lowered and pressed against the paper; (12) is a printing element of the thermal head; (13) is a printer that prints according to print data; A drive circuit for driving the element, (14) a kick ridge motor for moving the head left and right along the platen, and (15) a head movement control section for controlling the movement of the head in the left and right directions.

The control details of this embodiment will be explained below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, when a print command is given from the keyboard (1>),
The processing unit (2>) instructs the print control unit (7) to start printing control. Then, the print control unit (7)
24), and if it is on, it is judged that the Novon cassette (20) is installed, and information "0" indicating thermal transfer printing is set in the register (6), and if it is off, it is judged that the Nobon cassette (20) is installed. , determines that the ribbon cassette (20) is not installed, and sets information r1, indicating thermal printing in the register (6>).After setting the print type information in the register, the print control unit <7> Text memory (4) to 1
A line of the document is read out, converted into a dot pattern by the font memory (5), and the converted dot pattern is developed as print data in the print buffer <8>. Next, the print control unit (7) determines whether thermal transfer printing or thermal printing is specified by determining the contents of the register (6>).Then,
In the case of thermal transfer printing, the print data is read from the print buffer (8), it is determined whether the read data is space information indicating a blank space, and if it is space information, a head up signal is sent to the head lift control unit (9>). The head lifting mechanism (10) raises the head to release the head from being pressed against the recording paper, and the ribbon winding mechanism (10)
1> to stop the winding of the ink ribbon. If the read data is not space information, a head down signal is applied to lower the head, and while the head is pressed against the recording paper, the data is output to the drive circuit (13) and the print element (12) is pressed. On the other hand, if the print type is thermal printing, the print data is sent to the drive circuit (13) without determining the space information.
> to cause the printing element (12) to print. Of course, during the printing operation, a control signal is sent to the head movement control section (15) to control the movement of the head along the platen.

By the way, in the embodiment, the head is raised and ribbon feeding is stopped as long as there is space information of one kilogram, but it is determined whether or not the space information continues beyond a specified value. The head may be raised and the ribbon winding may be stopped only when the value exceeds a specified value.

(G) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, during thermal transfer printing, the head rises according to the space information and stops winding the ribbon, as in the past, so that the recording paper is prevented from becoming smudged and the ink is removed. Ribbon can be saved, and during thermal printing, the head is always lowered and printed while being pressed against the thermal paper regardless of the space information, so printing speed and printing accuracy are improved. Control can be performed automatically according to the attachment and detachment of the ribbon cassette, which was required in the past, and does not require any operation by the user.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a printing control force formula according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main part of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. (6>...Register, (7)...Print control unit, <<8>>...Print buffer, (9>...Head elevation control unit, (10)...
...Head lifting mechanism, (11)...Ribbon winding mechanism, (12>...Printing element, (20)...Ribbon cassette, (21)...Ink ribbon, (23>)
...Kikeritsuji, (24)...Sensor. Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon is removable, and includes a thermal head, a head elevating mechanism for elevating and lowering the head, and a ribbon winder that controls winding of the ink ribbon in conjunction with the elevating and lowering of the head. The thermal printer is equipped with a detection means for detecting the mounting state of the ribbon cassette, and as a result of the detection, when the ribbon cassette is mounted, predetermined space information is present in the print data. Then, the head is raised to stop winding the ink ribbon, and when the ribbon cassette is not installed, printing is continued with the head lowered, regardless of the presence or absence of space information in the print data. A printing control method that is characterized by