JPH0624111A - Printer detection mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Simplification of the device in the detection device of the printing mechanism,
Aim to reduce costs. A first detection unit for detecting a home position of a carriage 2, a vertical home position of an ink ribbon 7, and a type detection of an ink ribbon 7, and a first detection unit according to an output waveform of the detection unit. A detection device comprising a determination means for determining detection, second detection, and third detection. [Effect] One sensor can be used for detecting the home position of the carriage, for detecting the home position of the ink ribbon in the vertical direction, and for detecting the type of the ink ribbon, thus simplifying the apparatus and reducing the cost. it can.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output device for printing and printing, and more particularly to a detection mechanism of a printing device for detecting the position of a carriage or a printing ribbon and determining the type of the printing ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an output device for detecting a position of a carriage or a printing ribbon and discriminating a ribbon type generally has a home position detecting sensor at a starting point of reciprocating motion of a carriage,
An ink ribbon for color printing is mounted on the carriage. Normally, when the operator prints a predetermined color on the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon shifts up and down to the position of the predetermined color. Therefore, in order to control the series of operations described above, it is necessary to detect the vertical position of the ink ribbon at that time, and a detection sensor for this purpose is provided. By the way, as a conventional example in which one sensor has both the home position detection sensor of the carriage and the up and down position sensor of the ink ribbon, a conventional example is disclosed in JP-A-61-1750.
There was 69.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned detecting means, in the conventional example in which one sensor has both the home position detecting sensor of the carriage and the vertical position sensor of the ink ribbon, the home position of the carriage is used. Since only the detection and the upper and lower positions of the ink ribbon can be detected and detected, there is a drawback that the type of the ink ribbon cannot be detected.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and it is possible to simplify the apparatus by providing detection functions of the carriage home position detection, the ink ribbon vertical position detection, and the ink ribbon type detection. The aim is to reduce costs and reduce costs.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the detection mechanism of the printing apparatus of the present invention comprises a carriage which reciprocates along an output medium, and an ink ribbon which is mounted on the carriage and can move in the vertical direction. And the same detection means for detecting the home position of the carriage, the home position of the ink ribbon in the vertical direction, and the type detection of the ink ribbon, and the first detection and the second detection according to the output waveform of the detection means. It is characterized by further comprising a discriminating means for discriminating the third detection.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view when the present invention is applied to a printer. FIG. 2 shows a side view of FIG. 1 viewed from the right side.
First, 2 is a carriage, 3 is a platen opposite to the carriage 2, printing paper is sent by the platen 3, 5 is a print head mounted on the carriage 2, and 7 is interposed between the print head 5 and the printing paper 4. It is a color ink ribbon cassette with the attached ink ribbon.

In the printer shown in the figure, the carriage 2 having the print head 5 is moved in the print digit direction by a print signal from the host computer, and is struck by a wire inside the print head 5, and wound on the platen 3 via an ink ribbon. The above-mentioned wire is struck on the mounted printing paper 4 to print characters and the like. The carriage 2 moves in the print digit direction on a drive shaft arranged in parallel with the platen 3. On the operator side (lower side in FIG. 1) that hits the rear of the print head 5,
The ink ribbon storage portion of the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is mounted on the carriage 2. Reference numeral 7b denotes a rotation center shaft for vertically moving the tip of the color ink ribbon cassette 7, and the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is rotatably supported about the rotation shaft 7b.

FIG. 3 shows an ink ribbon winding mechanism and
It is a train wheel side development view showing a ribbon lift mechanism section for vertically shifting the color ink ribbon cassette 7. The ribbon winding mechanism and the ribbon lifting mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. Reference numeral 23 is a guide plate in which the rack gear is cut and also serves as a guide for the carriage 2. Reference numeral 9 is a planetary gear configured to mesh with the guide plate 23. Reference numeral 10 is a planetary lever supported so as to swing the planetary gear 9 left and right. Reference numeral 13 denotes a ribbon transmission gear that meshes with the planetary gear 9, 11 denotes a ribbon transmission gear that also meshes with the planetary gear 9, 12 denotes a ribbon driven gear that meshes with the ribbon transmission gear 11, and 8 denotes a ribbon drive gear and a drive shaft for winding an ink ribbon. Is. When the carriage 2 moves in the X'direction, the planet gears 9 rotate counterclockwise (hereinafter referred to as CCW). Planet lever 10 is C
CW rotates, the planet gear 9 meshes with the ribbon transmission gear 13, the ribbon transmission gear 13 rotates clockwise (hereinafter referred to as CW), and the ribbon drive gear 8 rotates CCW. When the carriage 2 moves in the X direction, the planet gear 9 rotates CW. The planet lever 10 rotates to CW, the planet gear 9 meshes with the ribbon transmission gear 11, the ribbon transmission gear 11 rotates to CCW, and the ribbon driven gear 12 connected to the ribbon transmission gear 11 rotates to CW and the ribbon drive gear. Rotate 8 to CCW. Therefore, the ribbon drive gear 8
Always rotates CCW regardless of the moving direction of the carriage 2.

Next, the ribbon lift mechanism will be described.
Reference numeral 14 is a lift transmission gear, 15 is a lift friction gear, 16 is an intermittent lift gear, 17 is a lift cam gear for sliding the lift lever 18 up and down, and 19 is a home position detection sensor 2 fixed to the lift lever 18.
5, a ribbon position blocking plate, and 20 is a trigger lever for fixing the lift intermittent gear 16 at a predetermined position, with a center of rotation as a fulcrum.
Reference numeral 21 is a return spring that can swing in the W or CCW direction, which gives a tension force to the trigger lever 20, and 35 is a trigger solenoid.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. FIG. 4 is a wheel train plan view showing the intermittent gear mechanism during printing. The lift transmission gear 14 connected to the ribbon drive gear 8 rotates to CW and the lift friction gear 15 always rotates to CCW. The neutral portion 16e of the intermittent lift gear 16 does not form a gear and does not receive the driving force of the lift transmission gear 14. In addition, the lift intermittent gear 1
6 is fitted in the notch 20a of the trigger lever 20 and the protrusion 16a of the intermittent lift gear 16 and does not rotate during printing. In this state, the lift friction gear 15 connected to the lift transmission gear 14 rotates while exerting a constant frictional force on the lift intermittent gear 16.

When the ink ribbon cassette 7 is lifted, the trigger lever 20 is rotatably fixed as shown in FIG. 1 and the plunger 36 of the trigger solenoid 35 is supported so that the trigger lever 20 can swing. By exciting the trigger solenoid 35, the plunger 36 is attracted against the tension of the return spring 21. When a color print command is input here, the trigger solenoid 35
Is excited, the notch 20a of the trigger lever 20 is removed from the protrusion 16a of the lift intermittent gear 16, and at the same time, the carriage 2 is operated to lift the lift intermittent gear 16
Meshes with the lift transmission gear 14. As shown in FIG. 5, the lift friction gear 15 rotates CCW, and the disc spring 2
A frictional force is exerted by the load of 2 and the lift intermittent gear 16 is C
Rotate to CW. Next, when the trigger solenoid 35 is de-energized and the carriage 2 is moved by a predetermined amount, the lift intermittent gear 16 rotates 1/4 and the protrusion 16 of the lift intermittent gear 16 is rotated.
The notch portion 20a of the trigger lever 20 is re-entered in b,
The rotation of the lift intermittent gear 16 stops. Even if the carriage 2 is moved by a predetermined amount or more as shown in FIG. 6, the second neutral portion 16f of the lift intermittent gear 16 and the lift transmission gear 1
4 is opposite. At the same time, the protrusion 16b of the intermittent lift gear 16 does not fall into the notch 20a of the trigger lever 20 to rotate the intermittent lift gear 16 by the trigger lever 20. Therefore, the lift cam gear 17 is 1 /
Stop at 4 turns. FIG. 7 is a development view of the cam portion of the lift cam gear 17. In the state described above, the lift lever 18
Stops at the portion B in FIG. 7 and raises the ink ribbon cassette 7 by one step to execute the ribbon lift. If this operation is performed twice, the lift cam gear 17 makes 1/2 rotation, if it is performed 3 times, it makes 3/4 rotation, and if it is made 4 times, it makes one rotation. Lift cam gear 17 is 1 /
After every four rotations, the lift lever 18 moves the lift cam gear 17
Using the cam part formed on the guide as a guide,
Part, part B, part C, part D, and the lift lever 18 is moved up and down to lift the color ink ribbon cassette 7 in four stages.

In this embodiment, depending on the stepped cam deviation position of the lift cam 17, the A part (black), the B part (cyan), C
Part (magenta) and D part (yellow). The number of rotations of the lift cam gear 17 is controlled so that a predetermined color ink ribbon can be selected depending on the number of times the trigger solenoid 35 is energized and the number of times the carriage 2 is moved according to the required color of the ink ribbon selected.

The color home position detecting operation will be described below. The ribbon position must be detected when the printer is powered on, but in this embodiment, the ribbon position shield plate 19 attached to the lift lever 18 in the state of the lift cam 17 at the portion A (black) of the lift cam 17 is shown in FIG. It is set to come to the lowest point as shown by the solid line. When the carriage 2 is moved in the X'direction in this state, the ribbon position shield plate 19 causes the position detection sensor 25 to move.
Into the gap 25a. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the positional relationship of the ribbon position shield plate 19 with respect to the position detection sensor 25.

The home position of the carriage 2 is detected by the protrusion 2a formed on the carriage 2 moving the carriage 2 in the X'direction.
5 is executed by entering the gap 25a.

A method of detecting the type of ink ribbon is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. Single color ink ribbon 6 as shown in FIG.
If the ribbon detection lever 30 is a single color ribbon cassette 6
However, in the case of the color ink ribbon cassette 7 as shown in FIG. 8, when the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is located at the lowest position, the ribbon detection lever 30 and the color ink ribbon cassette 7 come into contact with each other and the ribbon detection lever 30 is set to the lowest point. When the carriage 2 is moved in the X'direction in this state, the ribbon detection lever 30 enters the gap 25a of the position detection sensor 25.

The position detection sensor 25 is, for example, a photo interrupter type, and a light emitting element such as an LED and a light receiving element such as a phototransistor are provided on opposite sides of the gap 25a. If there is no light-shielding object in the gap 25a, light is emitted. Light emitted from the element enters the light receiving element, and the internal phototransistor is turned on. On the other hand, the gap 25a
When there is a light-shielding object, light from the light-emitting element does not enter the light-receiving element, so the internal phototransistor is turned off. Therefore, as described above, when the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is raised from the black position, the ribbon position shield plate 19 does not enter the gap 25a and the phototransistor is turned on. On the contrary, when the ribbon cassette 7 is lowered to the black position, the ribbon position shield plate 19 is lowered to the position of the gap 25a, and when the carriage 2 is moved in the X'direction, it enters the gap 25a and the phototransistor is turned off.

FIG. 12 shows a structural example of a circuit for controlling the operation of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure.

In the figure, reference numeral 42 denotes a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as CPU), and a program (processing means) is stored in the ROM 40 to instruct an operation command of the entire device. Information from the host computer 47 is input to the CPU 42, and the CPU 42 stores this information in the buffer of the RAM 41 or outputs it to the outside through the interface circuit 43. The interface circuit 43 functions as an input / output port for various data. In this example, as the input system circuit, a detection circuit 44 including a home position detection of the carriage 2, a home position detection of the ribbon cassette 7, and a position detection sensor 25 for detecting the ribbon cassette is shown. The output system of the interface circuit 43 includes a drive control circuit 45.
Indicates. The drive control circuit 45 uses the logic level information output from the interface circuit 43 as the actual drive system 4
The drive control level is converted to 6 and applied to each operating mechanism of the drive system 46. The drive system 46 includes a carriage 2 drive system and a platen 3
It is composed of a drive system and a print head 5 drive system.

Next, a determination means for determining whether the position detection sensor 25 detects the home position of the carriage 2, the color home position of the color ink ribbon cassette 7, or the type of the ink ribbon cassette is detected. explain.

When a light-shielding object enters the gap between the position detecting sensor 25 and the light path of the light emitting element is blocked, the internal phototransistor of the position detecting sensor 25 is turned off.
Becomes At this time, the detection circuit 44 generates a high level signal having a logical level. On the other hand, when the optical path of the position detection sensor 25 is not blocked, the phototransistor is turned off.
The N state is entered, and the detection circuit 44 generates a low level signal having a logic level.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing the positional relationship between the carriage home position detection flag and the lift lever 18 and ribbon detection lever 30 at the color home position. As shown in FIG. 10, when the carriage 2 is moved in the X ′ direction when the ink ribbon cassette 7 is not in the color home position, the protrusion 2 a formed on the carriage 2 enters the gap of the position detection sensor 25. The detection circuit 44 outputs a high-level rectangular wave at time T1 as indicated by 11, and A. Next, when the carriage 2 is moved in the X ′ direction when the single color ink ribbon cassette 6 is mounted,
The protrusion 2a formed on the carriage 2 enters the gap of the position detection sensor 25, and the detection circuit 44 outputs a high-level rectangular wave at time T1 as shown in FIG. Further, move the carriage 2 in the X'direction to the time (T2 + T
When only 3) is moved, the ribbon detection lever 30 does not enter the gap of the position detection sensor 25.
No rectangular wave is generated unlike 1 and A. In this case, the lift execution operation of the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is canceled even if it is determined that the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is not installed and a color printing command signal is input. Next, when the lift lever 18 is located at the lowest point (home position of the ink ribbon cassette) when the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is mounted, the carriage 2 is formed on the carriage 2 when moved in the X ′ direction. The formed protruding portion 2a enters the gap of the position detection sensor 25, and the detection circuit 44 outputs a high-level rectangular wave at time T1 as shown in FIGS. Further, when the carriage 2 is moved in the X'direction by the time (T2 + T3), the ribbon detection lever 30 enters the gap of the position detection sensor 25 and generates a rectangular wave as shown in FIGS. Further, when the carriage 2 is moved in the X ′ direction only at time (T4 + T5), the ribbon position shielding plate 19 is not located at the lowest point (when it is not at the color home position), it does not enter the gap of the position detection sensor 25. For Figure 11, B
The square wave for detecting the color home position is detected by the circuit 44
No more output. Here, in order to detect the color home position, the trigger solenoid 35 is excited and the color ribbon cassette 7 is lifted while moving the carriage 2 by a predetermined amount. Here, when the position shielding plate 19 is located at the lowest point (when it is in the color home position), carriage home position detection and ribbon type detection are executed, and further the carriage 2
Is moved in the X'direction only at time (T4 + T5),
The position shield plate 19 enters the gap of the position detection sensor 25, and the rectangular wave for color home position detection is output from the detection circuit 44 only at time T5 after time T4 as shown in FIGS. This position is stored in the RAM 41 as the color home position.

As described above, the CPU 42 inputs the output signal of the detection circuit 44 through the interface circuit 43, and the change in the detection signal determines that the single color ink ribbon cassette 6 is mounted in the case of FIG. 11A. .
11B, it is determined that the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is mounted and is not in the color home position. 11C, the color ink ribbon cassette 7 is mounted, and the CPU 42 is provided with a determination unit that determines that the lift lever 18 is located at the lowest point (color home position of the color ink ribbon cassette 7). There is.

Further, in this example, a photo interrupter is used as the sensor to discriminate the above-mentioned three detection targets based on the number of detection signals, but if the discrimination can be made by the detection signals, the type of sensor Also, it does not matter how the criteria for distinguishing the signals are set.

In this embodiment, the embodiment using the plunger type trigger solenoid 35 has been described.
As the type of solenoid, for example, an open type solenoid can also be used.

[0026]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the same detecting means for detecting the home position of the carriage, the home position of the ink ribbon, and the type of the ink ribbon, and the detecting means are the same. Depending on the output waveform of
By providing the functions of detecting the home position of the carriage, detecting the vertical position of the ink ribbon, and detecting the type of the ink ribbon, the device can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a ribbon switching device showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the positional relationship between the lift lever and the sensor at the color home position of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a development view of a train wheel side surface in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a train wheel showing an intermittent mechanism during printing (standby) of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a train wheel plan view showing a trigger input state of the intermittent mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a train wheel showing an operation of the intermittent mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a development explanatory view of a lift cam that shifts a lift lever of the present invention in four stages.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the positional relationship between the ribbon detection lever and the sensor when the color ribbon of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing the positional relationship between the ribbon detection lever and the sensor when the monochrome ribbon of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a positional relationship between a carriage home detection flag and a lift lever and a ribbon detection lever at a color home position.

FIG. 11 is a timing chart showing output waveforms of the output circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control circuit of the present invention.

[Simple explanation of symbols]

 2 carriage 3 platen 4 printing paper 5 printing head 6 single color ink ribbon cassette 7 color ink ribbon cassette 8 ribbon drive gear 9 planetary gear 10 planetary lever 11 ribbon transmission gear 12 ribbon driven gear 13 ribbon transmission gear 14 lift transmission gear 15 lift friction gear 16 lift Intermittent gear 17 Lift cam gear 18 Lift lever 19 Ribbon position blocking plate 20 Trigger lever 21 Return spring 22 Disc spring 23 Guide plate 25 Position detection sensor 28 Base frame 30 Ribbon detection lever 31 Ribbon detection lever spring 35 Trigger solenoid 36 Plunger 40 ROM 41 RAM 42 CPU 43 Interface circuit 44 Detection circuit 45 Drive control circuit 46 Drive system

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A carriage that reciprocates along an output medium, an ink ribbon that is mounted on the carriage and is vertically movable, home position detection of the carriage, and home position detection of the ink ribbon in the vertical direction. The same detection means for detecting the type of the ink ribbon, and the determination means for determining the first detection, the second detection, and the third detection according to the output waveform of the detection means are provided. A detection mechanism of a printing device characterized by the above.