JPH0691964A - Tape printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] A tape that can automatically remove an extra printed portion from a blank area by feeding the tape between the thermal head and the cutter mechanism and cutting and cutting with the cutter mechanism. To provide a printing device. [Structure] When the print key is pressed (S3: YE
S) If the cassette sensor detects the presence of the tape cassette (S5: YES), the first printing after the power switch is turned on (S7: YES), the tape cassette is removed from the tape storage section before the print key is pressed. If the tape cassette is stored again (S8: YES), or if the previous printing was stopped halfway (S9: YES), the tape located between the thermal head and the cutter mechanism is The tape is ejected out of the tape cassette from the tape ejecting part by being ejected by the distance between the head and the cutter. Then, the fed tape is cut by the cutter mechanism (S10).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printer for printing characters and the like on a long tape, and more particularly to providing a predetermined margin before and after the printed portion of the characters and the like printed on the tape. The present invention relates to a printing device that cuts a tape by a tape cutter mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a tape printer having this kind of tape cutter mechanism has been proposed. This tape printer is a tape feeding mechanism, a printing mechanism for printing characters and the like on the tape fed by the tape feeding mechanism, and a predetermined distance from the printing mechanism along the tape feeding direction of the tape feeding mechanism. And a tape cutter mechanism arranged downstream of the printing mechanism, and when creating an independent tape, the tape after printing is the tape until at least the trailing edge of the printed portion exceeds the tape cutter mechanism. The tape cutter mechanism is operated after the tape is fed.

Therefore, before printing is started, there is an unprinted tape between the printing mechanism and the tape cutter mechanism.
Therefore, in the tape printer, the unprinted portion is utilized as a blank portion provided in front of the printed portion, thereby making it possible to produce a good-looking tape without wasting the tape.

[0004]

However, in the tape printer of the previous term, the previously performed printing is interrupted without being printed to the end due to a print stop or the like, and the print portion between the print head and the tape cutter is interrupted. If it remains, there is a problem that the tape to be created next becomes a tape in which extra characters and the like remain in the margin portion.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is provided between the printing mechanism and the tape cutter mechanism, such as immediately after the power is turned on, the tape is replaced, or the printing is canceled. If there is a possibility that the previously printed part remains in the area marked with, the tape print prevents the excess printed part from remaining in the margin by feeding the tape a predetermined distance and activating the tape cutting mechanism. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0006]

In order to achieve this object, a tape printer of the present invention comprises a tape feeding mechanism, a printing mechanism for printing characters and the like on the tape fed by the tape feeding mechanism, and a tape. Whether or not the tape is mounted is detected in a tape printer having a tape cutter mechanism which is separated from the printing mechanism by a predetermined distance along the tape feeding direction by the feeding mechanism and is arranged on the downstream side of the printing mechanism. A detection mechanism, a print stopping means for stopping the printing by the printing mechanism, and a tape for at least the predetermined distance after the detection result of the detection mechanism changes from the absence of tape to the presence of the tape or the operation of the print stopping means. A control means for feeding the tape by the feeding mechanism and operating the tape cutter mechanism is provided.

The print canceling means includes a power switch for connecting and disconnecting the power supply from the power supply to the tape printer.

[0008]

In the tape printer of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the control means changes the tape to the tape after the tape is exchanged and the detection result of the detection mechanism changes from the absence of the tape to the presence of the tape or the operation of the print stopping means. The tape feed mechanism is operated to feed the tape at least the distance between the print mechanism and the tape cutter mechanism, and then the tape cutter mechanism is activated to leave the previous print existing between the print mechanism and the tape cutter mechanism. Cut the tape that may be present.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tape printer 1 with the storage cover 12 of the tape cassette storage portion 8 opened.
2, in the front portion (lower portion of FIG. 2) of the tape printer 1, a character input key 2 for inputting characters and the like, a print key 3, a cancel key 4 for forcibly ending printing during printing, and a line feed. And a keyboard 6 provided with various function keys such as a return key 5 for instructing execution of various processes
Is provided, and a cassette housing portion 8 for housing the tape cassette 31 is provided on the right side of the rear portion.
A cassette sensor 13 for detecting the presence / absence of the tape cassette 31 is provided at the inner rear end. The cassette housing portion 8 is opened and closed by a housing cover 12 rotatably attached to the rear of the tape printer 1, and the tape cassette 31 is exchanged in the open state.

On the left side of the rear end of the keyboard 6, a liquid crystal display 7 for displaying characters and the like input from the keyboard 6 is arranged. At the rear end of the left side surface of the tape printer 1, a power switch 14 for turning on / off the power supply of the tape printer is arranged.

Further, the tape cassette 31 is rotatably driven by a pulse motor 75, which will be described later, in the cassette housing portion 8.
A ribbon winding shaft 9 for rotating the ribbon winding spool 38 for winding the thermal ink ribbon 34 is provided upright, and an appropriate transmission from the pulse motor 75 is transmitted obliquely forward (on the keyboard 6 side). A tape feed roller shaft 10 for rotating the tape feed roller 43, which is rotationally driven through a mechanism, is provided upright. Further, in front of the cassette housing portion 8, a thermal head 11 for printing on the film tape 32 via a thermal ink ribbon 34 is fixed.

Next, the structure of the tape cassette 31 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the tape cassette 31 is housed in the cassette housing portion 8 (the tape cassette 31 is shown with the upper case removed), and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a part of the tape cassette 31 in an enlarged manner. is there.

In these figures, the tape cassette 31
A tape spool 33 around which a transparent film tape 32 is wound, a ribbon spool 35 around which a thermal ink ribbon 34 is wound, and a double-sided adhesive tape 36 with release paper, which is wound with the release paper side facing outward. A spool 37 is provided and each of these spools 3
3, 35 and 37 are rotatably supported by cooperation with a support portion provided on the lower surface of the upper case (not shown).

A ribbon take-up spool 38 is also rotatably supported between the spools 33, 35, 37. The ribbon take-up spool 38 is connected to the ribbon take-up shaft 9 described above and is ribbon-wound. By rotating the take-up shaft 9, the thermal ink ribbon 34 used for printing is taken up.

Further, the thermal head 11 is arranged in a recess 39 provided in the tape cassette 31 with the tape cassette 31 accommodated in the tape accommodating portion 8. The thermal head 11 is rotated by a roller holder H. The platen roller 40 that is supported so as to be possible is arranged to face the pressure roller. The thermal head 11 prints characters and the like on the film tape 32 via the thermal ink ribbon 34.

A tape pressure contact roller 42 is rotatably supported near the tape discharge portion 41 of the tape cassette 31, and a tape feed roller 43 rotatably supported by a roller holder H is pressed against the tape pressure contact roller 42. They are arranged opposite to each other.

In the cassette housing portion 8, a roller holder H is rotatably supported by a support shaft 44 in front of the tape cassette 31 (lower side in FIGS. 3 and 4), and the roller holder H is not shown. It is possible to switch between the print position and the release position by the manual switching mechanism (FIGS. 3 and 4 both show the state where the print position is switched to the print position).

As shown in FIG. 3, the platen roller 40 and the tape feed roller 43 are rotatably supported by the rotary shaft 46 and the rotary shaft 49, respectively, and the platen roller 40 is supported by the thermal head 11 on the roller holder H. ,
Further, the tape feed roller 43 is arranged so as to be brought into pressure contact with the tape pressure contact roller 42, respectively.

The tape feed roller 43 is rotationally driven by the tape feed roller shaft 10, and at the same time, the pressure contact roller 42 is rotationally driven in conjunction with the tape feed roller 43 by a gear mechanism (not shown).

Further, the tape discharging section 4 which is the downstream side of the thermal head 11 along the feeding direction of the film tape 32.
A cutter mechanism 55 is arranged in the vicinity of 1. The cutter mechanism 55 has the same structure as known scissors,
It consists of a fixed blade 56 and a movable blade 57. The movable blade 57 is fixed to a rotating lever 59 that rotates about a pivot shaft 58, and the rotating lever 59 is a pinion fixed to a drive shaft 61A of a DC motor 61 via a gear mechanism 60. It is connected to 62.

Therefore, the movable blade 57 opens and closes with the pivot shaft 58 as a fulcrum via the pinion 62, the gear mechanism 60, and the turning lever 59 in accordance with the forward / reverse rotation of the drive shaft 61A of the DC motor 61. , The fixed blade 5 with this opening and closing operation
The tape T produced in cooperation with 6 is cut. There is a distance n between the printing position by the thermal head 11 and the cutting position by the cutter mechanism 55.
This distance n is defined as the head-cutter distance n.

The pressure contact roller 42 and the tape feed roller 43 cooperate with each other to form an adhesive agent for the double-sided adhesive tape 36 with respect to the film tape 32 on which characters and the like are printed by the thermal head 11 via the thermal ink ribbon 34. The surface is pressure-bonded to finally form the tape T.

Next, the control system of the tape printer will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the tape printer 1, which is configured with a CPU 70 as a core. In FIG. 4, a keyboard 6 is connected to a CPU 70, and the CPU 70 discriminates a character code input from a character input key 2 of the keyboard 6 and various control codes input from keys such as a print key 3 and a cancel key 4. .

A ROM 71 is connected to the CPU 70 and a program for controlling the tape printer 1 is provided.
Various data and the like are stored, and a print pattern for printing the character is stored for each character in association with the character code.

Further, a RAM 72 connected to the CPU 70
Stores temporarily data generated while the CPU 70 controls the tape printer 1, a text memory in which the input character code and control code are temporarily stored, and a print pattern. And a flag memory for storing various flags described later.

The flag memory includes a power switch 14
A first flag F1 indicating whether or not printing is performed for the first time after insertion, a second flag F2 indicating whether or not a cassette exchange has been performed between the previous printing and the current printing, and whether or not previous printing has been canceled halfway The third flag F3 shown is stored. When the first flag F1 is reset (its value is set to "0"), it indicates the first printing after the power switch 14 is turned on, and when it is set (the value is set to "1"), the power switch 14 is set.
The second and subsequent prints after the input are shown. The second flag F2 is reset to indicate that the cassette has been replaced between the previous printing and the current printing, and when set, it indicates that the cassette has not been replaced. Third flag F3
Indicates that the previous printing was canceled halfway due to resetting, and indicates that the printing was not canceled halfway when set.

The CPU 70 constantly monitors the presence / absence of a cassette by the cassette sensor 13. Further, the thermal head 11 is controlled via the thermal head drive circuit 77.
Characters and the like are printed on the film tape 32 by the thermal head 11. Further, the CPU 70 controls the pulse motor 75 via the pulse motor drive circuit 74, and D
The DC motor 61 is controlled via the C motor drive circuit 76. The pulse motor 75 is a motor for feeding the tape, and the DC motor 61 is a motor for cutting the tape.

Next, the tape printer 1 having the above structure
The operation of will be described. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the tape printer 1 executed by the CPU 70, FIG. 6 is a subroutine of the cassette detection process (S2) in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is the print process (S in FIG. 5).
It is a subroutine of 8).

First, when the power switch 14 is turned on,
Reset the first flag F1 (F1 = 0), the second flag F
2 and the third flag F3 are set (F2 = 1, F3 = 1) (S1). Next, a cassette detection process (S2) is performed.

In this cassette detection process, it is judged whether or not the second flag F2 is set (S2).
1), if the second flag F2 is set, that is, F
If 2 = 1 (S21: YES), the cassette sensor 13
Thus, it is determined whether or not the tape cassette 31 is detected (S22). If the tape cassette 31 is stored in the cassette storage portion 8 and the tape cassette 31 is detected by the cassette sensor 13 (S22: YE
S), the second flag F2 is set and its value is set to "1" (S23).

On the other hand, whether the second flag F2 is reset (S21: NO) or the second flag F2 is set (S21: YES), the tape cassette 31 is not stored in the tape storage portion, Tape cassette 31
Is not detected (S22: NO), the second flag F2 is reset and its value is set to "0" (S2).
4).

By this cassette detection processing, since the second flag is set immediately after the power switch 14 is turned on,
If the tape cassette 31 is stored in the tape storage portion 8, the second flag F2 remains set (S21).
-S22: YES, S23). However, when the tape cassette 31 is not stored, the power switch 14
Is input, the second flag F2 is reset (S
21: YES, S22: NO, S24). Further, when the stored tape cassette 31 is removed from the tape printer 1, the second flag F2 is reset (S21:
YES, S22: NO, S24).

When the process of S23 or S24 is completed, the process returns and S3 of FIG. 4 is executed.

In S3, it is determined whether or not the print key 3 is pressed (S3), and when a key other than the print key 3 is pressed (S3: NO), other processing is executed (S4). . For example, if the character input key 2 is pressed, the character code corresponding to the pressed character input key 2 is stored in the RAM.
72 in text memory. When the function key is pressed, the process corresponding to the pressed function key is executed. After the other processing is completed, S2 is executed.

When the print key 3 is pressed (S3: YE
S), it is determined whether the cassette sensor 13 detects the presence of the tape cassette 31 (S5), and when the absence of the tape cassette 31 is detected, an error process (S6) is executed. In this error processing, a message indicating that the tape cassette 31 is not stored is displayed on the liquid crystal display 7, and a buzzer (not shown) is sounded. When this error processing is completed, S2 is executed.

When the print key 3 is pressed (S3: Y
ES), the tape cassette 31 by the cassette sensor 13
When the presence is detected (S5: YES), each flag F1,
The states of F2 and F3 are determined, and the flags F1, F2 and F
If at least one of the three flags is reset (S7: YES, or S7: NO, S8: YES, or S7 / S8: NO, S9: YES), the pulse motor 7
5 is driven to feed the tape T by the head-cutter distance n, and the cutter mechanism 55 is driven to cut the fed tape T (S11).

That is, the first printing after the power switch 14 is turned on (S7: YES), the tape cassette 31 is removed from the tape storage section 8 before the print key 3 is pressed, and then the tape cassette 31 is stored again. In the case of being stored in the unit 8 (S8: YES), in the previous printing, if the cancel key 4 is pressed during the printing process and the printing is stopped midway (S9: YES), The tape T located between the thermal head 11 and the cutter mechanism 55 is sent out by the head-cutter distance n, so that the tape T is sent out of the tape cassette 31. Then, the fed tape T is cut by the cutter mechanism 55. In each of the above cases, there is a possibility that the previous print is left on the tape located between the thermal head 11 and the cutter mechanism 55, but the portion where the print may remain due to the processing of S10 is automatically performed. It is cut off and removed. Therefore, a good-looking tape T is created.

When the process of S10 is completed, the printing process (S1
1) is executed. If all of the flags F1, F2, F3 are set (S7, S8, S
9: NO), that is, the second or subsequent printing after the power switch 14 is turned on (S7: NO), and the print key 3 is pressed without removing the tape cassette 31 from the end of the previous printing. The printing process (S11) is also executed (S8: NO) and when the previous printing is completed without being stopped (S9: NO).

When this printing process is started, the RAM 72
The character code is read from the text memory, the print pattern corresponding to this character code is read from the ROM 71 and stored in the print memory, and the thermal head 11 is driven based on the print pattern stored in the print memory. At the same time, the pulse motor 75 is driven to feed the tape, and printing is performed on the film tape 32 (S
81).

It is determined whether or not the cancel key 4 is pressed during this printing (S82), and if the cancel key 4 is not pressed (S82: NO), it is determined whether or not the printing is completed (S83), and the printing is performed. Until the end, S82 and S83 are repeatedly executed (S83: NO). When printing is completed (S83: YES), the third flag F3 is set, the printing process is completed, and S12 of FIG. 4 is executed.

On the other hand, if the cancel key 4 is pressed during printing (S82: YES), printing is immediately stopped (S82).
85), the third flag F3 is reset, the printing process ends, and S12 of FIG. 4 is executed.

In S12, the first flag F1 and the second flag
Both flags F2 are set (S9), and then S
2 is executed.

As described in detail above, in the tape printer 1 of this embodiment, the tape cassette 31 stores the tape for the first time after the power switch 14 is turned on (S7: YES) and before the print key 3 is pressed. Either the printing when the tape cassette 31 is removed from the unit 8 and then the tape cassette 31 is stored in the tape storing unit again (S8: YES), or the printing when the previous printing is stopped halfway (S9: YES). Before performing, the tape T is sent out by the head-cutter distance n, and the tape T sent out by the cutter mechanism 55 is cut. Therefore, the thermal head 11 and the cutter mechanism 5
Even if the previous print remains on the tape located between 5 and 5, the part is cut and removed,
By the subsequent printing process, a good-looking tape T is created.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, after the print key 3 is pressed, the tape T is fed by the head-cutter distance n before the printing process is started, and then the cutter mechanism 55.
However, immediately after the power switch 14 is turned on, or the tape cassette is stored, or immediately after the cancel key 4 is pressed to stop the printing, the tape T is fed by the head-cutter distance n, and the fed portion is cut off. It may be cut.

[0047]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the previous printing is performed on the portion between the printing mechanism and the tape cutter mechanism immediately after the power is turned on, the tape is replaced, or the printing is canceled. If there is a possibility that the printed part remains, a tape printer that can automatically remove the extra printed part from the blank part by feeding the tape a predetermined distance and operating the tape cutting mechanism Can be done, and its industrial effect is great.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control system of a tape printer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the tape printer shown with the storage cover of the tape cassette storage unit opened.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where a tape cassette is stored in a cassette storage portion.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged plan view showing a state where a tape cassette is stored in a cassette storage portion.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the tape printer.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a cassette detection process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a printing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Tape Printing Device 4 Cancel Key 10 Tape Feed Roller Shaft 11 Thermal Head 13 Cassette Sensor 14 Power Switch 32 Film Tape 43 Tape Feed Roller 55 Cutter Mechanism 70 CPU

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tape feeding mechanism, and a printing mechanism for printing characters and the like on the tape fed by the tape feeding mechanism,
In a tape printer having a tape cutter mechanism arranged at a predetermined distance from the printing mechanism along the tape feeding direction of the tape feeding mechanism and arranged downstream of the printing mechanism, it is detected whether or not the tape is mounted. A detection mechanism for stopping the printing by the printing mechanism, and at least the predetermined distance after the detection result of the detection mechanism changes from the absence of tape to the presence of the tape or the operation of the print termination means. A tape printing apparatus comprising: a control unit that feeds a tape by a tape feeding mechanism and operates a tape cutter mechanism. 2. The tape printer according to claim 1, wherein the print canceling means includes a power switch for connecting and disconnecting power supply from the power supply to the tape printer.