JPH047920B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Field of Industrial Application" This invention relates to a printing method in a thermal transfer color printer.

"Prior Art" FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing section in a thermal transfer color printer. In this diagram,
Reference numeral 1 indicates a printing paper, and 2 indicates a color ink film.As shown in FIG. 5, this color ink film 2 includes Y (yellow), M (magenta),
(cyan) color ink is applied alternately. In FIG. 4, numeral 3 is a delivery roll for sending out the color ink film 2, 4 is a rewinding roll for rewinding the paper 1, 4a, 4a, . . . are sprocket pins, and 5 is a roller. Also, 6 is a platen roll, 7 is a thermal head, 8 and 9 are rollers, and 10
1 is a take-up roll for winding up the color ink film 2, and 11 is a cutter having an acute blade at its tip.

Next, the general operation of color printing will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the paper 1 and the Y color of the color ink film 2 are superimposed, and while the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 are fed one step at a time, one page of Y color dots is printed by the thermal head 7 (6th page). Diagram steps
SP1). When this one page worth of Y color dot printing is completed, the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 between the thermal head 7 and the roller 8 are in a state of being adhered. Then, the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 are fed to separate the adhesive portions (step SP2). At the time when this feeding is completed, the M color leading end of the color ink film 2 is located at the position of the thermal head 7. Next, after rewinding only paper 1 to its original position, M color printing is performed (step SP3).
Next, the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 are separated in the same manner as in step SP2 (step SP4).
Next, after rewinding only the paper 1, C color printing is performed (step SP5), and then the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 are separated (step SP5).
SP6). Through the above process, one page of color printing is completed. Next, a certain amount of paper 1 is fed, and the printing process is completed. (Step SP7).

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" As mentioned above, in a thermal transfer color printer, the operation of separating the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 (steps SP2, SP4, SP6) is essential. When printing a second page following printing of the first page, a margin always appears between the printing of the first page and the printing of the second page. This is extremely undesirable, especially when a color printer is to be used in place of the pen of a pen recorder. In addition,
Although it is possible to use a color ink film in which each color has a long ink portion, there is a problem in that the color ink film is likely to wrinkle.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing method for a thermal transfer color printer that allows each page to be printed continuously without any blank spaces.

"Means for Solving the Problems" This invention comprises a first step of printing one page of color on a roll paper using color inks of a plurality of colors coated on a color ink film; After the step, the roll paper and the color ink film are fed an extra certain length, and
a second step of separating the roll paper and the color ink film; and a third step of determining whether or not a continuous printing command to cause a plurality of pages to be continuously printed in color on the roll paper is supplied from an external device. and a fourth step of rewinding the roll paper by the predetermined length when the continuous printing command is supplied.

"Embodiment" Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control circuit for a color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration of the printing section in this embodiment is the same as that shown in FIG. 4.

In Figure 1, 15 is a CPU (central processing unit);
16 is a ROM in which programs are stored, 17 is a RAM for data storage, and 18 is an interface circuit. This interface circuit 18 complies with the Centronics standard, and when a ready signal READY is sent to an external device, the external device sends 1 byte of image data D and a strobe signal STB in parallel. The interface circuit 18 reads the image data D upon receiving the strobe signal STB, outputs it to the bus line 19, and
Sends an acknowledgment signal ACK back to the external device.
A parallel/serial conversion circuit 20 converts 8-bit parallel data supplied via the bus line 19 into serial data and outputs the serial data to the head drive circuit 21. The head drive circuit 21 has an internal serial-in/parallel-out shift register consisting of flip-flops of the same number as the heating elements of the thermal head 7, and a gate for controlling opening/closing of each output of this shift register. The output is supplied to each heating element of the thermal head 7. The mechanical unit control circuit 23 controls each mechanism of the printing unit shown in FIG. The color ink film winding motor 27 is connected to a color ink film winding motor 27 and a color band detection sensor 30 that detects each color band of the color ink film 2.

Next, the operation of the color printer having the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, when a print command is output from an external device to the interface circuit 18, the CPU 15 detects this and sends a ready signal via the interface circuit 18.
Output READY to external device. The external device receives this signal READY, and sequentially sends the Y, M, and C color image data D in bytes to the interface circuit 1.
Supply to 8. Also, at this time, the external device outputs a splicing command to the interface circuit 18, which instructs whether or not to splice the pages. The image data D supplied to the interface circuit 18 is sequentially stored in the RAM 17 by the CPU 15, and the splicing command is stored in the RAM 17.
It is stored at a specific address of 7.

Next, the CPU 15 performs step S1 shown in FIG.
Performs initial set processing. That is, first, a paper set command is output to the mechanism control circuit 23. Upon receiving this command, the mechanism control circuit 23 drives the paper feeding pulse motor 25 by a preset number of steps, rotates the platen roll 6, and thereby sets the paper 1 at the initial position. next
The CPU 15 outputs a color ink film set command to the mechanism control circuit 23. Upon receiving this command, the mechanism control circuit 23 activates the color band detection sensor 30.
Based on the output, the color ink film winding motor 27 is driven to set the color ink film 2 in Y color. Next, the CPU 15 proceeds to step S2 and performs Y color printing processing. That is, first, Y color image data D is sequentially read from the RAM 17 and output to the parallel/serial conversion circuit 20. The parallel/serial conversion circuit 20 converts the image data D into serial data and outputs it to the head drive circuit 21. This serial data is sequentially read into a shift register within the head drive circuit 21. Next, the CPU 15 outputs a print command PR to the head drive circuit 21 when one line of dot data is read into the shift register. As a result, the gate in the head drive circuit 21 is opened, the dot data in the shift register is supplied to the thermal head 7, and the first row of Y color dots is printed. Next, the CPU 15 drives the paper feeding pulse motor 25 and the color ink film winding motor 27 for one line, then reads out the second line of Y color image data D from the RAM 17 and prints it. to print one page in Y color.

Next, the CPU 15 proceeds to step S3 in FIG. 2, and outputs a command to the mechanism control circuit 23 to instruct the separation of the paper 1 and the color ink film 2. The mechanism control circuit 23 receives this command and drives the paper feeding pulse motor 25 and the color ink film winding motor 27 by a predetermined number of steps. Next, when the process advances to step S4, M color printing is performed overlapping the page on which Y color printing was performed in step S2. That is,
The paper 1 is rewound, and then M color printing is performed line by line in the same process as step S2. When the printing of one page of the M color is completed, the process advances to step S5, where the paper 1 and the color ink film 2 are separated (see step S3).
Next, when the process advances to step S6, C color printing is performed on the same page as above, and when the process then advances to step S7, the paper 1 is printed in the same manner as steps S3 and S5.
The color ink film 2 is separated from the color ink film 2.

Next, when proceeding to step S8, the above-mentioned RAM
It is determined whether the splicing command within the specific address No. 17 instructs splicing. If the result of this judgment is "NO",
Proceeding to step S9, the paper 1 is fed by a certain amount and the printing process is completed. On the other hand, if the above judgment result is "YES", the process advances to step S10. In step S10, a splicing command is output to the mechanism control circuit 23. The mechanism control circuit 23 receives this command and rewinds the paper 1 by a predetermined amount. As a result, the next line of the printed page of the paper 1 is positioned immediately before the thermal head 7. Next, the process returns to step S3, and the second page is printed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the printing process of the paper 1 when splicing is instructed, and each diagram shows the point in time when the next process is completed.

First page C color printing Separation of paper 1 and color ink film 2 Rewinding based on splicing instructions Y color printing of second page Separation of paper 1 and color ink film 2 Rewinding for M color printing M color printing on the 2nd page Separation of paper 1 and color ink film 2 Rewinding for C color printing C color printing on the 2nd page Separation of paper 1 and color ink film 2 Feed of paper 1 at the end of printing By repeating the above-mentioned steps, continuous printing can be performed for a longer period of time.

"Effects of the Invention" As explained above, according to the present invention, when a continuous printing command is supplied from an external device, printing can be performed continuously without providing a margin between pages. can get.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the printing process in the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of the printing section of a color printer, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the color ink film 2 in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the printing process in a conventional color printer. It is. 1...Paper, 2...Color ink film, 1
5...CPU, 16...ROM, 17...RAM,
23... Mechanism control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A first step of printing one page of color on a roll paper using a plurality of color inks applied on a color ink film; and after this first step, printing the roll paper. and a second step of feeding the color ink film an extra predetermined length and separating the roll paper from the color ink film, and an external device issuing a continuous printing command to continuously print a plurality of pages of color on the roll paper. and a fourth step of rewinding the roll paper by the predetermined length if the continuous printing command is supplied. A printing method for a thermal transfer color printer.