JPH03183583A - Video printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To protect a printed sheet and increase the reliability and operating simplicity of a device by providing a constitution in which a warning is displayed if an allowable number of printed sheets have accumulated in a sheet discharge part and printing the sheet is impossible after the warning. CONSTITUTION:If a printing key 21a is pressed for data input on a key control part 21, a sheet discharge limit interpretation device 26 checks whether the value (n) of a counter of a number of discharged sheets 25 is larger than the allowable number of sheets A in a sheet discharge part. If n is smaller than A, it is interpreted that there is room for more sheets to be allowed in, the sheet discharge limit interpretation device 26 connects a signal for the execution of printing to a printing control part 23. If n equals A, it is interpreted that the printed sheets reach the allowable number in the sheet discharge part, the sheet is no longer printed and the device 26 connects a signal to a warning display part 27 so that a warning is displayed to remove the sheets from the sheet discharge part at a step 39.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a video printer device that prints a video signal onto print paper.

[Prior Art] A video printer device is mainly used to freeze a moving image being played by a video device and print (or copy) this still screen.

Conventionally, there is a video printer device that has a paper discharge section that can store a plurality of printed sheets.

The conventional video printer device as described above will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional video printer device. When the print execution key 1a is input on the key operation unit 1, a print command is issued to the print control unit 2, and the print control unit 2 controls the print unit 3 accordingly to print on paper (not shown). will be held.

FIG. 4 is a front view of main parts of a conventional video printer device. When the print execution key ↓a of the key operation unit 1 is input, print paper 5 is sent from the paper feed unit 4 to the print unit 3. In the printing section 3, the thermal head 6 presses the printing paper 5 and the ink sheet 7 against the platen 8 and starts printing. When printing is completed, the print paper 5 is sent to the paper discharge section 9. The above print operation is controlled by the print control section 2. The paper discharge section 9 can store a plurality of printed papers 10. However, the user can take out the printed paper 10 from this paper discharge section 9.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such a conventional video printer device, if printed paper continues to be printed without being taken out from the paper ejection section, the paper ejection section will be filled with paper and the printing will be stopped after printing is completed. Since paper that is newly ejected from the print section is prevented from entering the paper ejection section, there is a problem in that the printed paper is scratched or scratched, and its quality is deteriorated.

The present invention solves the above problems, and provides a video printer device that protects printed paper by issuing a warning when a permissible number of printed paper accumulates in the paper output section and preventing further printing. The purpose is to

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a video printer device having at least a paper feeding section for printing paper, a printing section, and a paper discharging section for printed paper. A paper detector is provided for detecting the presence or absence of printed paper, and a paper output counter is provided for counting the number of printed paper sheets, and an output value of the paper output counter is used to determine whether the printed paper is within the allowable range of the paper output section. A paper discharge limit determining means for determining whether the number of printed sheets has reached the number of sheets permissible for the paper discharge section, and a warning display section for warning that the number of printed sheets has reached the allowable number of sheets of the paper discharge section based on the output of the paper discharge limit determining means. This is a video printer device featuring:

In the present invention, the paper detector must be provided in the paper discharge section, but the locations where the paper discharge number counter, paper discharge limit determining means, and warning display section are installed are not particularly limited and may be provided anywhere. However, if the warning display section is of a visual type, it is preferable to provide it outside the device at a position that is easily visible to the user. If the warning display section is of a type that can be determined audibly, the installation location is not particularly limited.

[Function] With the above-described configuration, when the paper detector detects that there is printed paper in the paper ejection section, the ejection sheet number counter counts the number of sheets each time printing is completed, and the value is set at the paper ejection section. When the allowable number of sheets is reached, the paper ejection limit determining means determines that the paper ejection section is filled with printed paper, and in response, the warning display section issues a warning to remove the paper, and from then on, the print execution key is input. To prevent printing from being performed even if a paper discharge part is filled with printed paper, and to prevent scratches on paper and chicks from entering when newly printed paper enters from a printing unit when a paper discharge part is filled with printed paper.

[Embodiment] A video printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. Note that the part numbers in FIG. 4 are used for parts common to FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video printer device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, in addition to a key operating section 21 having a print execution key 21a, a printing section 22 that performs printing, and a print control section 23 that controls this printing section 22, there is also a paper ejecting section (FIG. 4, 9) showing printed paper. (Fig. 4, 10); a print end signal from the print control unit 23; a discharged paper sheet counter 25 that counts the number of sheets; and an output value of the discharged sheet number counter 25. a paper discharge limit determining means 26 for determining whether the number of sheets (FIG. 4, 10) remaining in the paper discharge section (FIG. 4, 9) has reached the allowable number of sheets of the paper discharge section (FIG. 4, 9); It has a warning display section 27 which issues a warning to remove the paper from the paper discharge section (Fig. 4, 9) when the paper discharge limit determining means 26 determines that the permissible number of sheets has been exceeded. The judgment output of the limit judgment means 26 is input to the print control section 23, and controls whether printing is possible or not.

The operation of protecting printed paper using the configuration shown in FIG. 1 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 2, when the print key 21a of the key operation section 21 is input in step 32, the paper discharge limit determining means 26 determines the value n of the paper discharge number counter 25 and the predetermined paper discharge section tolerance in step 33. Check the size relationship of the number A. n<
In case A, since there is room for more paper to enter the paper discharge section, the paper discharge limit determining means 26 sends a signal to the print control section 23 to execute printing. If n=A, the number of printed sheets in the paper output section has reached the allowable number.
Without executing printing, the paper discharge limit determining means 26 sends a signal to the warning display unit 27, and in step 39 displays a warning to remove the paper from the paper discharge unit.

In step 34, when the print section 22 finishes printing, the print control section 23 sends a print completion signal to the ejected sheet counter 25.

Then, before the printed paper (FIG. 4, 10) is sent from the print unit 22 to the paper output unit, the following steps 35 to 10 are performed.
40 is executed. In step 35, the output sheet number counter 2
5 receives a signal from the paper detector 24 indicating whether there is printed paper (FIG. 4, 10) in the paper discharge section (FIG. 4, 9);
If there is paper, the number of sheets remaining in the paper ejection section is the number n of remaining sheets before printing plus one sheet to be ejected from now on, so 1 is added to n in step 36. If there is no paper, only one sheet to be ejected from now will remain in the paper ejection section, so n is set to 1 in step 37. In step 38, the paper discharge limit determining means 26 examines the magnitude relationship between n and n, and if n<A, there is room for more paper to enter the paper discharge section, so the process ends at step 40. If n=A, the number of sheets in the paper discharge section has reached the permissible number A, so a warning is displayed in step 39.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the number of sheets remaining in the paper output unit is counted, and when the value reaches the allowable number of sheets in the paper output unit, a warning is displayed and After that, printing was no longer possible even if the print key was entered, so paper scratches and paper damage caused by newly printed paper coming from the print section when the paper ejection section was filled with already printed paper. In addition, the user can know whether the number of sheets in the paper output section is within the allowable number of sheets, and the reliability and usability of the device can be improved. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of main parts of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional video printer. FIG. 4 is a plan view of essential parts of the conventional example. 9: Paper ejection section 10 Printed paper 24: Paper detector 25: Ejection sheet number counter 26: Paper ejection limit determination means 27: Warning display section

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a video printer device having at least a paper feed section for print paper, a print section, and a paper discharge section for printed paper, a paper detector for detecting the presence or absence of printed paper is provided in the paper discharge section, and the a discharge sheet number counter that counts the number of sheets of printed paper; a paper discharge limit determination means that determines from an output value of the discharge sheet number counter that the number of printed sheets reaches the allowable number of sheets of the paper discharge section; 1. A video printer apparatus comprising: a warning display unit that warns based on the output of a paper limit determining unit that the number of printed sheets has reached the allowable number of the paper discharge unit.