JPH068066B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a printer using an ink ribbon.

[Prior Art] In this type of printer, for example, a dot printer, a printing mechanism and a ribbon cassette are mounted on a carrier, and a ribbon guide having an opening is provided in front of the dot head of the printing mechanism. The ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette is guided so that it just passes through the opening, and the dots from the dot head project from the top of the ink ribbon to the platen through the opening and print on the printing paper attached to the platen. I'm going to do it. In such a device, the distance between the tip of the dot head and the platen is about 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm, and although the ribbon guide is interposed between them, the distance between the ink ribbon and the printing paper is small.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such a printer, when the carrier is moved without printing, for example, when there is a long space between characters or when returning in one-way printing, ink There is a problem that the ribbon comes into contact with the printing paper through the opening of the ribbon guide, and the printing paper is soiled.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer capable of preventing the print paper from being contaminated by the movement of the carrier when printing is not performed when a single color ink ribbon is used. To aim.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of preventing the printing paper from being contaminated by the movement of the carrier when printing is not performed when the multicolor ink ribbon is used.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is directed to a platen a, a carrier b which moves along the platen a, and a platen mounted on the carrier b and having a printing section. A printing mechanism c facing a and a ribbon cassette d containing a single color ink ribbon
And a ribbon guide f which forms an opening e and positions the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette d between the platen a and the front surface of the printing portion through the opening e, and the ribbon cassette d is opened by the ink ribbon opening e. A cassette rotating mechanism g for controlling the rotation so that the carrier b is moved without controlling the operation of the printing mechanism c is operated by the controller to operate the cassette rotating mechanism g to move the ink ribbon to the opening e. It is designed to be removed from the position.

Further, according to the present invention, when a multicolor ink ribbon is used as the ink ribbon, when controlling the movement of the carrier b without the operation of the printing mechanism c, the control means h operates the cassette rotating mechanism g to operate each color of the ink ribbon. Of these, the lightest color is located in the opening e.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, the invention is applied to a dot printer.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a carrier shaft 2 and a guide shaft 3 are provided in parallel along the axial direction of the platen 1, and a carrier 4 is movably attached to each of the shafts 2 and 3. .

The carrier 4 has a dot print head 5 as a printing mechanism mounted on the front part thereof, and a ribbon cassette 6 containing a single color ink ribbon on the rear part thereof. The ribbon cassette 6 is placed on a ribbon base 8 which is rotatably supported by a support 7.

A ribbon guide 9 is provided at the tip of the carrier 4,
The ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 is positioned between the platen 1 and the print portion 5a of the print head 5. An opening 10 is provided in the ribbon guide 9 at a position facing the printing portion 5a at the substantially central portion, and guides the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 so as to pass through the opening 10.

A cassette rotating mechanism 11 is attached to the lower part of the carrier 4. The cassette rotating mechanism 11 is a ribbon shift motor 12, a rotating gear 13 for transmitting the rotation of the motor 12, and a fan-shaped structure for rotating the ribbon base 8 about the support 7 as a rotational force is transmitted from the rotating gear 13. It is composed of a gear 14. That is, as shown by the arrow in the figure, the motor 12 is rotated in the clockwise direction, whereby the rotating gear 13 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, and the rotation of this gear 13 causes the fan-shaped gear 14 to rotate in the clockwise direction and the ribbon base 8 to be rotated. Is rotated clockwise. The rotation amount of the ribbon base 8 is regulated by the stopper 15.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration, 21 is a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes the control unit main body, and 22 is this CP.
ROM (Read Only Memory) in which program data for U21 to control each part is stored,
Reference numeral 23 denotes an R provided with a memory for storing various data such as print data and a memory for storing processed data.
It is AM (random access memory). This CP
The U21, the ROM 22 and the RAM 23 are connected by a bus line 24.

Reference numeral 25 is an I / O port, 26 is a keyboard interface for controlling input of key signals from the keyboard 27,
Reference numeral 28 is a reception control circuit for receiving and controlling data such as print data from the outside. The I / O port 25, the interface 26, the reception control circuit 28, and the CPU 21 are connected by a bus line 29.

The I / O port 25 has a head drive circuit 30 that controls the drive of the print head 5, and a motor drive circuit 3 that controls the drive of a carrier motor 31 that controls the movement of the carrier 4.
2. A motor drive circuit 34 that drives and controls a paper feed motor 33 that rotates the platen 1 to feed printing paper and a motor drive circuit 35 that drives and controls the ribbon shift motor 12 are connected to each other. The carrier motor 31 also feeds the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 with a ribbon feed mechanism 36.
I also try to drive control.

The CPU 21 executes the fifth program based on the program stored in the ROM 22.
It is set to perform the control shown in the figure. That is, when one line of data is received from the outside via the reception control circuit 28, it is checked whether or not the data has print data, and if there is, print data of n characters or more previously set is continuously checked. Check if there are consecutive blanks. If there is a blank of n characters or more, first, the print data before the blank is driven on the print paper by driving the carrier motor 31 and the print head 5.

Next, the ribbon shift motor 12 is driven to drive the ribbon base 8
Is rotated clockwise to rotate the tip of the ribbon cassette 6 downward as shown by the arrow in the figure to shift the ink ribbon and remove it from the opening 10. In this state, the carrier motor 31
Is driven to move the carrier 4 by n characters. (Control Means) Next, the ribbon shift motor 12 is rotated in the reverse direction to rotate the ribbon base 8 counterclockwise to restore the ribbon cassette 6 to the original state. Then, the remaining print data is printed on the print paper by driving the carrier motor 31 and the print head 5.

Further, when there is no blank of n characters or more in the print data, the carrier motor 31 and the print head 5 are driven without rotating the ribbon cassette 6 downward to print one line of print data on the print paper. .

On the other hand, when there is no print data in the received data, for example, in the case of reciprocal printing and returning without printing in the return path, the ribbon shift motor 12 is driven in the same manner as described above to rotate the ribbon base 8 clockwise. Then, the tip of the ribbon cassette 6 is rotated downward to shift the ink ribbon and remove it from the opening 10. In this state, the carrier motor 31 is driven to return the carrier 4. (Control means) When the return is completed, the ribbon shift motor 12 is rotated in the reverse direction so that the ribbon base 8 is rotated counterclockwise to restore the ribbon cassette 6 to the original state.

In the apparatus of this embodiment having such a structure, during printing, the opening 10 of the ribbon guide 9 is located at the ink adhering portion of the ink ribbon 6a as shown in FIG. If there is a space of n characters or more in the inside or carrier 4
When returning, the ribbon cassette 6 is rotated downward to remove the ink ribbon 6a from the position of the opening 10 as shown in FIG. 6B, and the carrier 4 is controlled to move in this state. Therefore, there is no possibility that the ink adhering portion of the ink ribbon 6a will come into contact with the printing paper through the opening 10 while the carrier 4 is moving, and therefore the paper will not be contaminated by the ink ribbon 6a.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The same parts as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as an ink ribbon, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (B) are arranged from the top in the width direction. The ink ribbon 6b is used. When the ink ribbon 6b is used, the CP is changed according to the color used.
U21 drives the ribbon shift motor 12 to move the leading end of the ribbon cassette 6 up and down to control the desired color to be located in the opening 10. That is, the CPU 21 performs the program control shown in FIG. A characteristic of this control is that when there is a blank of n characters or more in the print data or when the carrier 4 is returned, the ribbon shift motor 12 is driven to drive the ribbon cassette 6 as shown in FIG. 7 (b). The yellow (Y) color, which is the lightest color, is rotated at the position of the opening 10. That is, when a multicolor ink ribbon is used, its width is large, and it is difficult to completely remove the ink ribbon 6a from the opening 10 because the ribbon cassette 6 is greatly inclined. For this reason, yellow (Y) is positioned in the opening 10.

As a result, when the carrier 4 moves without printing, the lightest color among the four colors is located in the opening 10, and even if the ink ribbon 6b and the printing paper may come into contact with each other. The stains on the paper are barely noticeable, and there is no risk of impairing the sharpness of printing.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer which can prevent the printing paper from being contaminated by the movement of the carrier when printing is not performed when a single color ink ribbon is used. is there.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer capable of preventing the printing paper from being contaminated by the movement of the carrier when printing is not performed when a multicolor ink ribbon is used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the constitution of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a partial perspective view, FIG. 3 is a side view with a partial cross section, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the main processing of the CPU, and FIG. 6 is a print operation and carrier movement. FIGS. 7 and 8 show another embodiment of the present invention, showing the positional relationship between the single color ink ribbon and the opening portion, and FIG. 7 shows the multi-color during the printing operation and the carrier movement. FIG. 8 shows the positional relationship between the ink ribbon and the opening, and FIG.
It is a flowchart which shows the main processing of PU. 1 ... Platen, 4 ... Carrier, 5 ... Print head, 6 ... Ribbon cassette, 7 ... Support, 9 ... Ribbon guide, 10 ...
Opening part, 11 ... Cassette rotating mechanism, 21 ... CPU (central processing unit), 22 ... ROM (read only memory).

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Bibliography Sho 60-179454 (JP, U) Japanese Patent Sho 56-38987 (JP, B2) Hei 4-42145 (JP, Y2)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A platen, a carrier that moves along the platen, a printing mechanism mounted on the carrier and a printing unit facing the platen, a ribbon cassette storing a single color ink ribbon, and an opening. A ribbon guide that positions the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette between the platen and the front surface of the printing unit through the opening, and a cassette rotation that controls the rotation of the ribbon cassette so that the ink ribbon comes off the opening. A printer provided with a moving mechanism and a control means for operating the cassette rotating mechanism when controlling the movement of the carrier without the operation of the printing mechanism. 2. A platen, a carrier that moves along the platen, a printing mechanism mounted on the carrier and a printing unit facing the platen, a ribbon cassette storing a multicolor ink ribbon, and an opening. A ribbon guide for positioning the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette between the platen and the front surface of the printing unit through the opening, and the ribbon cassette so that each color portion of the ink ribbon is located in the opening. A cassette rotation mechanism that controls rotation, and when controlling the movement of the carrier without operating the printing mechanism, operates the cassette rotation mechanism to position the lightest color of the multicolor ink ribbon in the opening. A printer having control means for controlling the printer.