JPH0465275A - 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] [Summary] Regarding a printing device in which a print head performs printing by moving relatively on a medium, an object of the present invention is to prevent the print head from moving over a folded or wrinkled medium. In a printing device in which a print head is fixed to a print head carrier so as to face a medium to be printed, and prints by moving relatively on the medium, the progress of the print head carrier from the printing part of the print head is provided. Abnormality detection means for detecting an abnormality in the medium, provided at a portion on the print head carrier on the direction side, and stopping the moving operation of the print head carrier when the abnormality detection means detects an abnormality in the medium. and print head carrier stopping means.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a printing device, and particularly to a printing device in which a print head moves relatively over a medium to perform printing.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the demand for shortening printing processing time in printing devices, efforts have been made to increase medium conveyance speeds and printing speeds.

However, if the conveyance speed is increased, the medium moving within the apparatus body is likely to be distorted, which may cause folds or wrinkles in the medium.

Moreover, such folds and wrinkles on the media can impede the movement of the print head.

Therefore, in a printing device in which a print head moves over a medium to perform printing, it is desirable to have a configuration that can detect folds and wrinkles in the medium in advance.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a printing device used in financial institutions and the like to record bankbooks.

In the figure, a passbook 5, which is a printing medium, is printed on a printing device 1.
It is inserted into the printing device 1 through the insertion port 4 on the front side of the printer.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a conveyance mechanism for the passbook 5, which includes a plurality of rollers 3a, a belt 3b for driving the rollers 3a, and a motor 3c. Reference numeral 2 denotes a print section that prints on the passbook 5.

The passbook 5 inserted through the insertion slot 4 is transported to the printing unit 2 by the transport mechanism 3, where a predetermined printing is performed, and then returned to the insertion slot 4 by the transport mechanism 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the main parts of an example of a conventional printing device, and FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line VI--VI in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the conveyance mechanism 3 has a plurality of rollers 3a on an insertion path 3f, and each roller 3a is configured to convey the bankbook 5 by transmitting the rotation of a motor 3C through a belt 3b. . Furthermore, a page change mechanism 3d for turning the pages of the bankbook 5 within the printing device 1 is also provided.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a print head, which has a print part 22a below and a print mask 22b at its tip, and is placed on the print head carrier 21 at a height position where the lower surface of the print mask 22b contacts the upper surface of the inserted medium 5. Fixed.

The print head carrier 21 is disposed at the back of the transport mechanism 3, and when not printing, it waits at a position laterally away from the passbook 5, as shown in FIG. When a print command is received, the print head carrier 21 moves in a direction (indicated by arrow A in the figure) perpendicular to the insertion direction of the bankbook 5, while the print unit 22a performs predetermined printing.

Since the print mask 22b has a raised shape in the moving direction of the print head carrier 21, even if the edge 5a of the passbook 5 is slightly raised, the print mask 22b
2b is configured to press the raised part under the print mask 22b so that the print part 22a can move to the upper surface of the passbook 5.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In order to convey the bankbook 5 at high speed in the printing device configured as described above, it is necessary to operate the conveyance mechanism 3 at high speed. As described above, the conveyance mechanism 3 has a complicated configuration including a plurality of rollers 3a and a page feed mechanism 3d, so in the process of rotating these at high speed and conveying the passbook 5, the rollers 3
a, and the passbook 5 itself may vibrate.

This vibration causes the bankbook 5 moving within the device body to bend, and some of the bankbooks 5 may be sent to the rollers 3a while being bent, causing folds or wrinkles on the top surface of the bankbook. These folds and wrinkles are often in a state where they are more raised than the above-described raised portions of the print mask 2d.

When a print command is received on a passbook inserted with such folds and wrinkles, the print head 22 moves to the right in Fig. 6.
If the print mask 22b gets under the folded or wrinkled page of the passbook and continues to move, the print head 22
This may tear the page or damage the main body of the print head 2a.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device that can prevent a print head from moving over a folded or wrinkled medium.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a print head 22.
In a printing device that is fixed to a print head carrier 21 so as to face a medium 5 on which printing is performed, and performs printing by moving relatively on the medium 5, the print head carrier 21 The print head carrier 21 on the traveling direction side
Abnormality detection means 10 for detecting an abnormality in the medium 5 provided at the upper part, and a printing spatula for stopping the printing spatula when the abnormality detection means 1 is detected. The present invention is characterized by detecting the moving operation of the carrier 21 and stopping the carrier 11a.

[Effect]

An abnormality detection means capable of detecting abnormalities in the medium is provided at a position closer to the print head carrier than the printing part of the print head in the traveling direction of the print head carrier, so that the printing part does not come into contact with abnormal parts such as folds or wrinkles in the medium. It is possible to detect abnormalities in the medium before it is detected.

Further, the print head carrier stopping means stops the moving operation of the print head carrier upon detection of an abnormality by the abnormality detecting means, thereby preventing the printing section from coming into contact with an abnormal part such as a fold or wrinkle of the medium.

This protects the media and printhead from damage.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a state in which a printing device, which is an embodiment of the present invention, has started a detection operation.

In this embodiment, the print head carrier 2 in the figure is
1, except for the distance sensor 10 and the control device 11, which have the same structure as the conventional example, so the parts shown in FIG. 1 that correspond to the parts shown in FIG. The same reference numerals are used to omit the explanation thereof, and the illustration and explanation of the constituent parts of the printing device shown in FIG. 5 are omitted in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a distance sensor 10 is used as a means for detecting an abnormality in a medium, and a passbook 5 is used as a medium for a printing device l.
This is a distance sensor that measures the distance between The distance sensor 10 is connected to the print head carrier 21 on the side of the print head carrier 21 in the traveling direction (indicated by arrow A in the figure) from the print section 22a.
The detecting section 10a of the distance sensor 10 is provided in the upper part so as to be perpendicularly opposed to the upper surface of the passbook 5.

Note that the bankbook 5 in the figure shows a normal bankbook with no folds or wrinkles.

The print head carrier 21, on which the print head 22 is fixed and further provided with the distance sensor 10 as described above, is connected to the motor 12c.
A pair of pulleys 12b and the pair of pulleys 1 driven by
2b and a belt 12a circumferentially surrounding the drive device 12.

The print head 22, the distance sensor 10, and the motor 12c of the drive device 12 are each connected to the control device 11.

When the print head carrier 21 is in a standby state before receiving a print command, the standby position of the print head carrier 21 is set such that the detection section 10a provided as described above is located laterally than the end 5a of the passbook 5. It is determined.

The control device 11 receives a printing command from the host device, moves the print head 22 from the standby position to a predetermined position on the bankbook 5 by rotating the motor 12c, and
This configuration allows the print head 22 to perform predetermined printing.

Here, the distance sensor 10 is a non-contact type, for example, 0 to 1.
This is a distance sensor with a range of 0.00 mm and measures distance using optical means.

Sensors using optical means include those based on phase difference, those based on reflection angle, and those based on amount of reflected light, but these sensors have relatively high accuracy for measuring minute displacements of the object to be measured, as in this example. A method based on phase difference is used.

The principle of a distance sensor based on phase difference is that the sensor consists of two light sources that flash alternately with a certain phase difference and a light receiving section located between the two light sources. The difference is that the phase difference between the two lights that are reflected by the sensor, hits the object to be measured, and reaches the light receiving section changes in accordance with the distance between the sensor and the object to be measured.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus I having the above-mentioned structure will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which folds and wrinkles are detected in the printing device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation flow in the printing device of the invention.

First, while the print head carrier 21 is in a standby state with the detection unit 10a positioned to the side of the end 5a of the passbook 5 as described above, the control device 11 receives a print command from the host device (step 30). .

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the drive device 12 receives a signal from the control device 11 and drives the print head carrier 2
moves in the direction indicated by arrow A in the figure in order to print on the upper surface of the pass Is5. The distance sensor 10 fixed on the print head carrier 21 detects the distance sensor 10 from the position where the detection section 10a approaches the upper end 5a of the passbook 5.
and the top surface of the passbook 5 begins to be measured (step 31).

Here, the control device 11 stores the interval distance S from a normal bankbook with no folds or wrinkles as shown in FIG. While moving in the direction of arrow A, □ continuously measures the interval distance S from the bankbook 5 and simultaneously compares the magnitude thereof (step 32).

If there are folds or wrinkles on the top surface of the passbook 5, the folds or wrinkles have a shape that swells upward toward the distance sensor 10, so the measured interval distance S is a smaller value than the reference distance S. becomes.

Conversely, if 81≦S, it is determined that there are no folds or wrinkles in the passbook 5, and the printing operation, the measurement of the interval distance S, and the above-mentioned S are performed.
The comparison between and 81 is repeated until the scheduled printing is completed (step 33).

Next, when the passbook 6 with folds and wrinkles 6b is inserted into the printing device as shown in FIG.
has a shape that swells upward toward the distance sensor, so the distance S measured by the distance sensor 10 at the end 6a of the passbook 6 is S shown in the figure. In this case, the relationship with the reference distance S is St > S, and the control device 11
It can be determined that there are folds and wrinkles 6b on the top surface of the passbook 6.

When the control device 11 determines that there is a fold or wrinkle 6b, the print mask 22b of the print head 22 catches the fold or wrinkle 6b of the passbook 6, and tears the page or
In order to prevent damage to the print mask 22b itself, the print head carrier stopping means 11a provided in a part of the control device 11 is activated to interrupt the printing operation and the moving operation of the print head carrier 2I ( Step 34).

Then, an abnormality signal is generated to the host device (step 35), and the printing device is then temporarily stopped or the passbook 6 is returned to the insertion slot 4 of the printing device 1 by the transport mechanism 3 (
Step 36). Further, the flow of the operation is such that the bankbook 5 on which the prescribed printing has been successfully completed without detecting folds or wrinkles is also returned to the insertion slot 4 of the printing device 1 by the transport mechanism 3 (step 36).

In this embodiment, the interval distance S from a normal passbook with no folds or wrinkles is defined as the reference distance S, but the reference distance S1
When is made slightly smaller than that value, as described above, a bulge at the end that is pressed down by the raised portion of the print mask 22b will not be judged as a fold or wrinkle, and printing will proceed as is.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and the abnormality detection means on the print head carrier may be a sensor other than the distance sensor, and a structure may be adopted in which abnormality of the medium is detected using this sensor.

Furthermore, the printing device may be a printing device designed to use a piece of paper other than a passbook, continuous paper, or the like as a medium.

Further, the present invention is also effective in a printing device having a specification in which a line-type printing head having a width corresponding to the width of the medium is fixed in the device, and the medium moves over the head.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the abnormality detection means detects the abnormality before the print head comes into contact with the abnormal part of the medium,
Since the print head carrier stopping means stops the print head fixed to the print head carrier, the print head is prevented from catching folds, wrinkles, etc. of the medium and tearing the medium or damaging the print head itself. . Therefore, the time required to remove torn media or replace the print head, which occurred in the past, is omitted, making it possible to increase the operating rate of the printing device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention has started a detection operation, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the printing device shown in FIG. 1 is detecting folds and wrinkles, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing the operation flow of the printing device of the present invention, Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing a printing device used to record a passbook as an example of a printing device, and Fig. 5 is an example of a conventional printing device. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5. FIG. □・. In the figure, ■ is a printing device, 3 is a transport mechanism, 3a is a roller, 5.6 is a passbook, 5a and 6a are edges, 6b is a fold or wrinkle, 10 is a distance sensor, 10a is a detection unit, 11 is a control device , 11a is a print head carrier stopping means, 12 is a drive device, 12a is a belt, 12b is a pulley, 12c is a motor, 21 is a print head carrier, 22 is a print head, 22a is a print section, and 22b is a print mask. Figure 3 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A print head (22) is fixed to a print head carrier (21) so as to face a medium (5) on which printing is to be performed, and is moved relative to the medium (5) to print. In a printing device that performs
from the printing section (22a) of the print head carrier (21
); an abnormality detection means (10) for detecting an abnormality in the medium (5) provided on a portion of the print head carrier (21) on the traveling direction side of the print head carrier (21); ) Print head carrier stopping means (11a) for stopping the moving operation of the print head carrier (21) when an abnormality is detected in the print head carrier (21). (2) The abnormality detection means (10) is a distance sensor (10) capable of detecting the distance to the medium (5), and the distance sensor (10) is provided facing the medium (5). Claim 1 characterized in that the distance sensor (10) is configured to detect an abnormality based on a change in the distance measured by the distance sensor (10).
Printing device as described.