JPH061029A - Thermal transfer recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent erroneous operation at the time of discrimination by providing a discrimination mark to the bobbin frame plate attached to an ink sheet and reading the mark by the sensor on the side of an apparatus main body to discriminate many kinds of ink sheets. CONSTITUTION:Four circular discrimination marks 101 of the bobbin frame plate 102 attached to the feed bobbin shaft 103 of an ink sheet 104 are read by four reflection type photosensors of the discrimination sensor provided to an apparatus main body 100 to make it possible to discriminate 16 kinds of ink sheets from each other with high reliability.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus in which various types of ink sheets such as color ink, monochrome ink, melting ink, and sublimation ink sheet are exchanged for use.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional example of a thermal transfer recording apparatus in which various ink sheets are exchanged for use is shown in FIG. Reference numeral 103 is a feeding bobbin shaft, 111 is a take-up bobbin shaft, 104 is an ink sheet, 201 is an identification claw, 202 is a micro switch that operates in combination with the identification claw, and 203 is an ink sheet folder in which each bobbin is mounted. .

As shown in FIG. 5, a pair of identification claws 201 are provided and protrude from the side surface of the ink sheet folder 203. At the tip of the identification claw 201, a micro switch 202 is attached to a housing (not shown) so as to face the tip. The identification claws 201 are of two types, namely, a length for turning on the microswitch and a length for turning off the microswitch. The pair of two identification claws are combined to turn on / off the microswitch 202 according to the type of the ink sheet.

Table 2 is a state correspondence diagram showing the type of ink sheet and the operation of the microswitch 202.

[0005]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 2, according to this identification method, four types of ink sheets can be identified by the combination of ON / OFF of the microswitch 202. When replacing the ink sheet, the user replaces the type and identification mark of the ink sheet in accordance with the guide display (not shown) shown in the ink sheet folder 203.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned identification type thermal transfer recording apparatus, since the ink sheet and the identification mark are separated, there is a possibility that the combination of the ink sheet and the identification mark may be wrong. If you make a mistake in this combination,
Since the operation timing of the thermal transfer recording apparatus differs depending on the ink sheet, the correct printing operation cannot be performed.

Further, since the pair of the identification claw and the micro switch is used as a pair, there are only four types of identification ability, and in order to increase this, an identification mark attachment part is added to the side surface of the ink sheet folder, Since it is necessary to provide the micro switch on the case side at a position corresponding to the identification mark, the additional work is troublesome and the cost is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and to provide a thermal transfer recording apparatus which eliminates an erroneous operation associated with the replacement of an ink sheet and at the same time allows a larger number of kinds of ink sheets to be replaced by a simple mechanism. .

[0010]

The means adopted by the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems are as follows. An identification mark corresponding to the type of ink sheet attached to the ink bobbin sheet is attached to the outer surface of the frame sheet of the ink sheet bobbin, and the identification mark is provided at a position facing the outer surface of the frame sheet of the installed ink sheet bobbin. The feature is that an ink sheet identification sensor for reading the mark is installed.

[0011]

As described above, since the identification mark corresponding to the type of the ink sheet attached to the ink bobbin sheet is provided on the outer surface of the frame plate of the ink sheet bobbin, the ink sheet and the identification mark are inseparable. It is in. Therefore, even if the ink sheet is replaced, the identification mark is always accurate, and there is no risk of malfunction of the device.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3, 100 is an apparatus body, 101 is an identification mark, 102 is a bobbin frame plate, 103 is a feeding bobbin shaft, 104 is an ink sheet, 105 is an identification sensor, 1
Reference numeral 07 is an engine board, 108 is a motor drive board, 110 is a motor, and 111 is a winding bobbin shaft.

As shown in FIG. 4, the identification mark 101 is provided on the outer surface of the bobbin frame plate 102 of the feeding bobbin as a four-layer ring. Each annular portion is divided into either white (reflectable portion) or black (non-reflective portion). Here, a white mark (1a) and a black mark (2
Examples of a), white mark (3a) and black mark (4a) are shown.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the identification sensor 105 is installed in a casing (not shown) on the apparatus main body side at a position facing the identification mark. Identification sensor 105
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the reflection type photosensors 1, 2, 3, each including a set of a light emitting element and a light receiving element corresponding to each annular portion forming the identification mark 101 of the bobbin frame plate 102. 4 are arranged in a straight line.

Table 1 shows the ink sheet identification operation in this example. As is clear from this table, 16
It can handle different types of ink sheets.

[0016]

[Table 2]

The identification operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The sensor light emitted from the light emitting element of the photo sensor 1 arrives at the white mark 1a of the identification mark 101, is reflected here, reaches the light receiving element of the photo sensor 1, and emits an ON signal. Further, the sensor light emitted from the light emitting element of the photo sensor 2 arrives at the black mark 2a of the identification mark 101 and is absorbed there, and therefore does not reach the light receiving element of the photo sensor 2. In this state, the photo sensor 2 emits an off signal. Similar operations are performed for the marks 3a,
4a and the photosensors 3 and 4, but the description is omitted.

In the printing system, an ON / OFF signal, which is ink sheet identification information, is transferred to the engine board 107 shown in FIG. 1 to output a monochrome ink sheet / Y from the ROM with built-in print energy control DATA in the board.
It is divided into the three-color ink sheet of MC, the OHP sheet / image-receiving paper ink sheet, and the melting / sublimation printing principle.
The optimum energy DATA is selected, transferred to the thermal head 109, and the printing operation is performed.

On the other hand, in the motor operation timing system, the on / off signal is transmitted to the engine board 107.
Is transferred to the motor drive board 108, the optimum motor drive DATA is selected in the board, and the motor 110 is driven. As described above, according to the present invention, an optimum printing operation can be performed automatically according to the type of ink sheet (color-based, sheet-based, printing principle-based, etc.) and without error. it can.

[0020]

According to the present invention, since the identification mark corresponding to the type of the ink sheet is provided on the outer surface of the frame plate of the bobbin, the type of the ink sheet and the identification mark are inseparable. Therefore, even when the ink sheet is replaced, there is an effect that an error is eliminated in the replacement operation and the malfunction of the apparatus can be prevented.

Further, since the bobbin frame plate is used for giving the identification mark, the increase in the number of ink sheets to be handled can be dealt with simply by replacing the identification mark.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an ink sheet and a bobbin used in an example of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an identification sensor according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an identification mark according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a main part of an identification section of a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 identification mark 102 bobbin frame plate 103 feeding bobbin shaft 104 ink sheet 105 identification sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising an automatic identification unit for identifying the type of an attached ink sheet, wherein a plurality of types of ink sheet bobbins are exchanged for use. An identification mark corresponding to the type of ink sheet attached to the ink bobbin sheet is attached, and an ink sheet identification sensor that reads the identification mark is installed at a position facing the outer surface of the frame plate of the installed ink sheet bobbin. The thermal transfer recording device is characterized in that