JPH0592831A - Printer for cut sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate stoppage of printing due to sheet shortage by providing two sheet feed cassettes, and changing one sheet feed cassette to the other sheet cassette automatically when the sheet shortage is detected at one sheet feed cassette, and supply sheets to the sheet feed cassette of the sheet shortage while the sheets are being supplied from the other sheet feed cassette. CONSTITUTION:A printer is composed of two sheet feed cassettes 21, 22, two sheet shortage detection parts 23, 24 for detecting sheet shortage at the sheet feed cassettes 21, 22 respectively, and a sheet feed cassette changing part 25 for changing the sheet feed cassette of sheet shortage to the other based on a sheet shortage signal from the detection parts 23, 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cut sheet printer, and more particularly to a paper feeding system when a paper is out.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional cut paper printer stops printing when the paper runs out. Therefore, when the paper runs out, printing is restarted by manually supplying the paper and restarting it.

[0003]

The above-described conventional cut sheet printer has two paper feed cassettes for feeding paper, but when one of the paper feed cassettes runs out of paper, printing stops, and the paper is manually fed. After switching the paper feed cassette to the other, it is necessary to restart printing, and therefore there is a drawback that printing is temporarily stopped and the operating rate is poor.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a novel cut paper printer capable of solving the above-mentioned drawbacks inherent in the conventional technology. To do.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a cut sheet printer according to the present invention comprises two paper feed cassettes and two paper feed cassettes for detecting paper shortage in each of these paper feed cassettes. It is configured to include a paper out detection unit and a paper feed cassette switching unit that switches the paper feed cassette from the paper out of paper feed cassette to the other by a paper out signal from these paper out detection units.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the cut sheet printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the operation of the embodiment of the cut sheet printer according to the present invention. .

Referring to FIG. 1, a cut sheet printer 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a printing section 11 and a printing section 11.
Paper feed cassettes 21 and 22 for feeding paper to the paper, and a paper out detector 2 for detecting paper out of the paper feed cassettes 21 and 22.
3, 24 and the paper feed cassette 21, which feeds the paper to be supplied to the printing unit 11 by the paper-out signals from the paper-out detection units 23 and 24
It is composed of a paper feed cassette switching unit 25 for switching to either 22.

Next, the cut sheet printer 1 according to the present embodiment
The operation will be described.

First, it is assumed that sheets of the same size are set in the sheet feeding cassettes 21 and 22, and the sheet is supplied from the sheet feeding cassette 21 to the printing unit 11. When the paper in the paper feed cassette 21 is exhausted, the paper out detector 23
Detects a paper out and sets the paper out signal a sent to the paper feed cassette switching unit 25 to "1". The paper feed cassette switching unit 25, which receives the paper out signal a, switches the feeding of the paper supplied to the printing unit 11 from the paper feed cassette 21 to the paper feed cassette 22.

While the paper is being supplied from the paper feed cassette 22 to the printing section 11, the paper is replenished in the paper feed cassette 21. The paper-out detection unit 23 sets the paper-out signal a to "0" when paper is replenished in the paper feed cassette 21.

When the paper feed cassette 22 runs out of paper and the paper run-out detection unit 24 detects the paper run-out, the paper run-out detection unit 24 sets the paper run-out signal b to "1" and feeds the paper to the paper feed cassette switching unit 25. Notify that the cassette 22 is out of paper. The paper feed cassette switching unit 25, which detects "1" of the paper out signal b, switches the feeding of the paper supplied to the printing unit 11 from the paper feed cassette 22 to the paper feed cassette 21.

While the paper is being supplied from the paper feed cassette 21 to the printing section 11, the paper is replenished in the paper feed cassette 22. The paper-out detector 24 sets the paper-out signal b to "0" when paper is replenished in the paper feed cassette 22. When the paper-out cassette 21 runs out of paper again, and the paper-out detection unit 23 detects the paper-out, the paper-out detection unit 23 sets the paper-out signal a to "1" and causes the paper-feed cassette switching unit 25 to feed the paper-feed cassette 21. Notify that the paper has run out. The paper feed cassette switching unit 25, which has detected "1" of the paper out signal a, switches the feeding of the paper supplied to the printing unit 11 from the paper feed cassette 21 to the paper feed cassette 22.

As described above, the paper feed cassette switching unit 25 alternately switches the two paper feed cassettes 21 and 22 in response to the paper run-out signal, so that the paper is continuously supplied to the printing unit 11 without interruption.

[0015]

As described above, according to the cut sheet printer of the present invention, it is provided with two paper feed cassettes, and when one of the paper feed cassettes detects a paper shortage, the other paper feed cassette is automatically operated. By switching to the paper feed cassette, it is possible to eliminate the stoppage of printing due to paper shortage. Further, it is possible to replenish a paper feed cassette that has run out of paper while the paper is being fed from one of the paper feed cassettes. As described above, according to the present invention, since there is no stoppage of printing due to running out of paper or stoppage of printing due to replenishment of paper, there is an effect that continuous printing is possible and the operating rate of the printer is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the operation of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cut paper printer 11 ... Printing unit 21, 22 ... Paper feeding cassette 23, 24 ... Paper out detection unit 25 ... Paper feeding cassette switching unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a cut sheet printer, two paper feed cassettes, two paper out detectors for detecting paper out of each of these paper feed cassettes, and paper out from these paper out detectors. A paper feed cassette switching unit for switching the paper feed cassette from a paper feed cassette that is out of paper to the other by a signal. 2. The method according to claim 2, further comprising means for replenishing the other paper feed cassette with paper while the paper is being supplied from one of the two paper feed cassettes to the printing unit. The cut sheet printer according to Item 1.