JPH0890885A - Method and equipment for multicolor printing using ink ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To lessen wasteful use of an ink ribbon by getting data on the history of use thereof in an ink area of each color and by conducting printing with the history data used in the next printing, in a method of multicolor printing wherein a multicolor ink ribbon provided with ink areas of different colors in repetition is used. CONSTITUTION: Ribbon spools 16A and 16B rotated by motors 17 and 18 for winding are provided in a carrier 19 and a multicolor ink ribbon 16 having the respective areas of red, green and blue in repetition is wound on the spools. Outside a printing sphere on a platen 14, an area 20 for entry and erasure of a bar code is formed by sticking a paper piece thereon. After completion of printing, a thermal head 15 is brought to a position corresponding to the area 20 and a state of use of the multicolor ink ribbon 16 is written as the bar code in a bar code part of the ink ribbon 16 at this position. Subsequently, the state of use written in is read by a bar code reading sensor 21 before start of printing so as to make it helpful to a subsequent printing control.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a multicolor ink ribbon in which ink regions of different colors are sequentially repeated in the longitudinal direction, and each ink region has a length sufficient for printing a predetermined number of prints. The present invention relates to a color printing method and device. The present invention further relates to a multicolor ink ribbon that can be suitably used for performing such color printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various types of conventional printers that perform printing using a multicolor ink ribbon. Among them, a conventional example in which a thermal transfer printer is used to perform multicolor printing is illustrated. This will be described with reference to FIGS. For example, FIG.
As shown in, red 2 (A, C, E), purple 3 (F), green 4 are placed at positions A to G of the recording medium 1 such as a cut sheet for printing.
When performing multicolor printing of (B, G) and blue 5 (D), a multicolor ink ribbon 6 as shown in FIG. 2 is used. The multicolor ink ribbon 6 has a region 7 of red ink, a region 8 of green ink, and a region 9 of blue ink, which are the three primary colors, in the longitudinal direction.
A ribbon identification marker 10 for identifying the color of the ribbon with a sensor (not shown) is formed between these areas, and these are repeated in the longitudinal direction. In addition,
The length of each ink area 7, 8, 9 corresponds to the length of one line when printing on the medium 1.

To perform multicolor printing as shown in FIG. 1 using this multicolor ink ribbon 6, first, the red ink region 7 is printed.
The ink ribbon 6 is moved so that the first printing position of the ink cartridge comes to a portion corresponding to the thermal head (not shown), and the carrier (not shown) equipped with the thermal head is moved to use the red ink. , A, C, E, F are printed at predetermined positions on the recording medium 1. Next, the first printing position of the green ink area 8 is moved to a position corresponding to the thermal head, the carrier is moved in the same manner, and B and G are moved to predetermined positions on the recording medium 1 using this green ink. Print on. Furthermore, the blue ink area 9 is moved until the first print position reaches the portion corresponding to the thermal head, the carrier is moved, and the blue ink is used to print D and F on the recording medium 1.
Print at the specified position of. As a result, desired multicolor printing as shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

In FIG. 2, the squares (□) next to A, C, F, B, G, and D of the ink ribbon 6 are for peeling the ink transferred by the thermal head from the medium 1. Is a margin part of
The part indicated by the broken line is an unused part of the ink ribbon.
In addition, as shown in FIG.
Red 2 (A, C, E), purple 3 (F), green 4 at G position
When performing multi-color printing of (B, G) and blue 5 (D), as shown in FIG. 4, the same multi-color ink ribbon 6 as in FIG. 2 is divided into six color areas (7, 8, 9, and 11, (For the areas indicated by 12 and 13)
Will be used.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional method,
The multicolor ink ribbon 6 is used as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 4, but since the ink regions 7, 8 and 9 of each color are used for printing line by line, after the use, the multicolor ink ribbon 6 is used as shown in FIG. A lot of unused portions as shown by the broken line in 4 remain, which is very wasteful.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a multicolor printing method and apparatus which can reduce the waste of the ink ribbon and can economically use the ink ribbon in the multicolor printing using the multicolor ink ribbon. The present invention provides a multicolor ink ribbon that can be suitably used in the method and apparatus.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, ink regions of different colors are sequentially repeated in the longitudinal direction,
In a multicolor printing method using a multicolor ink ribbon in which each ink area has a length capable of printing a predetermined number of times, history data of usage in the ink area for each color is taken and the history data is recorded in the next printing. A multicolor printing method is provided, which is characterized in that printing is performed using the multicolor printing method.

According to the second aspect, after the printing is completed, the history data of the ink ribbon is written in the printing use area of the multicolor ink ribbon, and the printing is performed after the history data is read at the next printing start. A multicolor printing method according to claim 1, wherein the multicolor printing method is provided. According to claim 3, after the printing is completed, the history data of the ink ribbon is written in an area of the multi-color ink ribbon which is not used for printing, and the printing is performed after the history data is read at the next printing start. A multicolor printing method according to claim 1, wherein the multicolor printing method is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the multicolor printing method according to the second or third aspect, wherein when the printing is resumed, the previous history data is read and then the history data is erased. It According to a fifth aspect, the history data is written on the ink ribbon or the history data is erased by the same print head that prints on the medium. A multicolor printing method according to item 1 is provided.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the multi-color printing method according to the fifth aspect is characterized in that the print head is moved to a portion outside the area of the medium, and the history data is written or erased by the print head. Will be provided. According to claim 7, the ink areas of different colors are sequentially repeated in the longitudinal direction, each ink area has a length for printing a predetermined number, and history data of ink ribbon use can be entered. In a multi-color printing apparatus using various multi-color ink ribbons, a means for reading history data of ink ribbon use from the ink ribbon side at the start of printing, and a method of reading the ink ribbon for the print head based on the read usage history data and print signals. There is provided a multicolor printing apparatus including a unit for setting a position and a unit for writing history data of new ink ribbon use on the ink ribbon side after printing is completed.

According to the present invention, the head position has an area indicating that it is an unused ink ribbon, and subsequently, ink areas of different colors are sequentially repeated in the length direction. The ink area has a length enough to print a predetermined number of characters, and the unused display area and the ink area can both be filled with and erase history data of ink ribbon use. A multicolor ink ribbon is provided.

[0012]

According to the first aspect, the history data of the use in the ink area for each color is taken, the used area and the unused area of the ink ribbon are judged, and the next printing is performed. As a result, waste of the ink ribbon can be eliminated. According to the second aspect, after the printing is completed, the history data of the ink ribbon is written in the printing use area of the multicolor ink ribbon, and the printing is performed after the history data is read at the next printing start. As a result, the history data can be read without moving the ink ribbon too much at the start of printing.

According to the third aspect, since the history data of the ink ribbon is entered in the area of the multi-color ink ribbon which is not used for printing, the area used as the ink ribbon can be effectively utilized. However, in this case, the ink ribbon must be moved to a predetermined reading position each time printing is started. According to the fourth aspect, since the history data is sequentially updated, it is possible to prevent a reading error.

According to the present invention, since the history data is written on the ink ribbon or the history data is erased by the same print head that prints on the medium, the history data can be written and erased. It is possible to simplify the structure of the printing apparatus without requiring any special means of. Also,
According to claim 6, there is no possibility of affecting the medium when writing or erasing the history data.

According to a seventh aspect, similar to the first aspect, the history data of the use in the ink area for each color is taken, the used area and the unused area of the ink ribbon are judged, and the next printing is performed. To do. As a result, waste of the ink ribbon can be eliminated. According to the seventh aspect, it is possible to obtain a multicolor ink ribbon that can be used in the above-described multicolor printing method or apparatus without making a large change to the conventional multicolor ink ribbon.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, FIG. 5 shows a mechanical structure of a thermal transfer printing apparatus for carrying out the multicolor printing method used in the present invention. A print medium 1 such as a commonly used recording cut sheet is on the platen 14. The thermal head 15 for printing can reciprocate in the X direction in parallel with the platen 14. Multicolor ink ribbon 16
The ribbon spools 16a and 16b wound with the ribbons and the carrier 19 having the ribbon winding motors 17 and 18 mounted thereon are also X-shaped.
It can move back and forth in any direction. The multicolor ink ribbon 16 has red, green, and blue regions repeatedly from the beginning of the ribbon, as in the case of FIG. However, conventional multicolor ink ribbons (Figs. 2 and 4)
There is no ribbon color identification marker 10 between the areas of each color. The thermal head 15 is mounted on the carrier 19 and moves in the same direction at the same speed as the carrier 19.

Outside the printing range of the thermal head 15 on the platen 14 (for example, the outside of the medium 1 as shown in the drawing), a piece of paper is pasted with, for example, double-sided tape or the like (not shown) so that the barcode can be entered. An erasing area 10 is formed. The barcode entry / erasure area 20 has the following two functions. First, after printing is completed, the carrier 19 is moved to bring the thermal head 15 to a position corresponding to the barcode writing / erasing area 20,
At this position, it is a place for writing the usage status of the multi-color ink ribbon 16 as a bar code in the bar code part L (FIGS. 7 to 10) of the ink ribbon 16, and another function is that before the start of printing. The past usage status entered in the barcode portion L of the color ink ribbon 16 is used as a barcode.
This is a place used for erasing the barcode read by the barcode reading sensor 21 and then read on the platen 14 side. This is to prevent the barcode data used once from being used again by mistake.

FIG. 6 shows the construction of the control unit of the multicolor printing apparatus of this embodiment. In FIG. 6, 22 is a central control circuit (CP
U) and 23 are ROM memories storing control programs and the like, 24 are RAM memories for writing and reading data and the like, and 25 are for driving the motors 17, 18, solenoids, thermal heads 19 and the like, and character patterns. Is a printer control unit including a character generator for generating

Next, the printing operation in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
~ It demonstrates with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view of a multicolor ink ribbon that can be preferably used in the multicolor printing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the leading portion of this multicolor ink ribbon. In the case of a new ink ribbon, the barcode is preprinted over the length L (the length corresponding to the number of L prints) L at a certain distance from the beginning of the ribbon. The initial value indicating that is unused is entered. Then, following the barcode, a red single color ink ribbon of length M (the length corresponding to the number of M prints), a green single color ink ribbon of length M, and a blue single color ink ribbon of length M (total 3 A group of ink ribbons (having a length of × M characters) continues A times in this order, and has a print length of 3 × M × A (characters). here,
M is a length (number of characters) corresponding to the width of the medium 1 in the printing direction which is normally used.

Here, in order to distinguish the ink ribbons for each color, as shown in the figure, the first group at the head is R1,
G1, B1, and the i-th group is Ri, Gi, Bi,
The final A-th group is RA, GA, BA.
Here, for simplicity, the value of M corresponding to the width of the normal print medium 1 is set to 8. That is, the medium 1 has a width of 8 characters. At the beginning, a new ink ribbon will be used.

M = 8: Number of printable characters (width of paper) A = 5: Number of repetitions of each color ink ribbon Therefore, M = 8, for the bar code of the first length L of the ink ribbon of the component. Information of A = 5 and P = 1 is described. Here, P is the number of characters from the ribbon head position as shown in FIG.

An operation procedure will be described below in the case of using the new ink ribbon as described above and printing two lines as shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the spaces between the characters are shown as being empty, but it is assumed that they are not actually empty. Operation 1: The bar code is read by the sensor 21 (FIG. 5) (here, the head bar code L portion). The positional relationship between the bar code (L), the sensor 21, and the head 15 immediately after being read is as shown in FIG. Operation 2: Since it is determined that the ribbon is a new ribbon from the P = 1 portion of the read barcode, the print number storage area of Table 1 for storing the print number of each single color ribbon area is set to 0, and the RAM 24 (see FIG. Reserved within the area of 6).

[0023]

[Table 1]

That is, Table 1 shows that each Ri, Gi, Bi (1 ≦
The data structure of the area for storing the number of prints of i ≦ A = 5) is shown, and R (i), G (i), B (i) (1 ≦ i ≦ A =
In 5), the number of prints of each single color ink ribbon portion is input in each column. In this case, the maximum printable value (maximum number of characters) of the monochrome ink ribbon portion is M = 8.
The column X (i) is a place for temporarily storing R (i) or G (i) or B (i) (1 ≦ i ≦ A = 5) during printing. Here, as described above, all storage areas are set to 0. Operation 3: "ABCD" for one line transmitted from the host device such as a personal computer (PC) (The print data of FIG. 3 is put in the print data storage area of Table 2 and secured in the area of the RAM 24 (FIG. 6). .

[0025]

[Table 2]

That is, Table 2 is a place where the print data sent from the host device is stored separately for the three colors of red, green, and blue, and BUFR (), BUFG (), and BUFB, respectively.
Assigned to (). BUFX () is the same as X () in Table 1, and BUFR () and BU are temporarily stored at the time of printing.
This is a place for storing either FG () or BUFB (). Table 2 shows a state in which the print data when the print operation of the first line in FIG. 3 is performed is stored. In Table 2, SP is a space symbol, CR is a carrier return symbol (a line feed for a carrier), and NUL is a no data symbol (a symbol indicating that there is no data below in that line). Further, Table 2 shows that BUFX (j) has no data yet.

In the ink ribbon, the number of characters to be printed from the top of the ribbon is P. In that case, P can be expressed by the following formula, depending on the color to be printed. P = 3M (i−1) + OC × M + X (i) +1 ... However, the constant OC and the number of prints X for each color ribbon X
(I) is as follows depending on the color to be printed.

When printing with a red ink ribbon: OC = 0,
X (i) is the number of R (i) When printing with a green ink ribbon: OC = 1, X (i) is G
Number of (i) When printing with blue ink ribbon: OC = 2, X (i) is B
(I) Number of prints In this example, the ribbon position (ribbon head position) to be printed is the red ink ribbon, so OC = 0, X.
(1) is 0 from Table 1, M is 8, and the variable i representing the number of sets of each color ribbon is the first red ink ribbon portion, so i = 1. Therefore, substituting these values,
The formula indicates P = 3 × 8 × (1-1) + 0 × 8 + 0 + 1 = 1 and the ribbon head position (see FIG. 9). Further, KC is a constant indicating which color is currently printed, and is as follows.

When printing with a red ink ribbon: KC = 0 When printing with a green ink ribbon: KC = 1 When printing with a blue ink ribbon: KC = 2 Operation 4: Since printing is performed with a red ink ribbon, The contents of BUFR (j) are copied to BUFX (j) for reading print characters. Table 3 shows the results.

[0030]

[Table 3]

Operation 5: The contents of the red print amount R (i) in the print number storage area shown in Table 1 are copied to X (i).
The results are shown in Table 4.

[0032]

[Table 4]

Operation 6: Constant K indicating the color to be printed
Substitute 0 for C and 0 for a constant OC indicating the position of the red ink ribbon. Operation 7: The ribbon leading portion (position 1 in FIG. 9) is moved to below the head. The number of rewound characters at this time is the distance HS between the head and the sensor from FIG. Therefore, the ribbon head position Z (FIG. 9) after the ink ribbon is rewound is under the head Y. Operation 8: Set j of BUFX (j) in Table 3 to 1. Operation 9: Set i of X (i) in Table 4 to 1. Operation 10: BUFX (1) = A, which is a print character. Operation 11: Since X (1) = 0 <M (= 8), it is possible to print on the first red ink ribbon portion. Operation 12: The ribbon position PO to be printed this time is calculated as P from the formula.
O = 1 is obtained. Operation 13: The value of P is 1 and PO from the read barcode.
Since it is the same as, the rewinding amount of the ink ribbon is (P-
PO =) 0. Operation 14: The character "A" is printed. The printing status of the ink ribbon is as shown in FIG. Operation 15: Add 1 to the print character to X (1). As a result, the value of X (1) becomes 1. Operation 16: The value obtained by adding 1 to the ribbon peeling amount to the value 1 of PO is substituted for P (P = 2, see FIG. 10A). Action 17: Set j in BUFX (j) to 2. Operation 18: According to Table 3, since BUFX (2) = SP is a blank portion, only the carrier 19 (FIG. 5) is moved by one character in the + X direction. Action 19: Set j in BUFX (j) to 3. Operation 20: According to Table 3, BUFX (3) = C, which is a print character. Operation 21: Since X (1) = 1 <M (= 8), it is possible to print on the first red ink ribbon portion. Operation 22: The ribbon position PO to be printed this time is calculated as P from the formula.
We get O = 2. Operation 23: The value of P is 2 from operation 16, while the value of PO is 2 from operation 22. Since P and PO are equal, the rewinding amount of the ribbon is 0. Operation 24: The character "C" is printed. The printing status of the ink ribbon is as shown in FIG. Operation 25: Add 1 to the print character to X (1). As a result, the value of X (1) becomes 2 rather than the previous value of 1. Operation 26: The value obtained by adding 1 to the ribbon peeling amount to the value 2 of PO is substituted for P (P = 3, see FIG. 10B). Operation 27: j of BUFX (j) is set to 4 Operation 28: From Table 3, BUFX (4) = NUL, indicating the end of data. Operation 29: The value 2 of X (1) is substituted into R (1). Action 30: Return the thermal head portion 15 (Fig. 5) to the home position. Operation 31: Next, in order to print with the green ink ribbon, the contents of BUFG (j) are copied to BUFX (j) for reading print characters in Table 2. The results are shown in Table 5.

[0034]

[Table 5]

Operation 32: Copy the contents of the green print G (i) in the print number storage area shown in Table 1 to X (i). Table 6 shows the results.

[0036]

[Table 6]

Operation 33: 1 is set to the constant KC indicating the color to be printed, and 1 is set to the constant OC indicating the position of the green ink ribbon.
Is substituted. Operation 34: j of BUFX (j) in Table 5 is set to 1. Operation 35: Set i of X (i) in Table 6 to 1. Operation 36: According to Table 5, since BUFX (1) = SP is a blank portion, only the carrier 19 (FIG. 5) is moved by one character in the + X direction. Action 37: Set j in BUFX (j) to 2. Operation 38: According to Table 5, BUFX (2) = B, which is a print character. Operation 39: Since X (1) = 1 <M (= 8), it is possible to print on the first green ink ribbon portion. Operation 40: The ribbon position PO to be printed this time is calculated as P from the formula.
O = 9 is obtained. Operation 41: The value of P is 3 from operation 26, while the value of PO is 9 from operation 40. Since the value of PO is larger, the winding amount of the ink ribbon is PO-P = 6. Operation 42: The character "B" is printed. The printing status of the ink ribbon is as shown in FIG. Operation 43: Add 1 to the print character to X (1). As a result, the value of X (1) becomes 1 from 0 in the previous value. Operation 44: The value obtained by adding 1 to the ribbon peeling amount to the value 9 of PO is substituted for P (P = 10, see FIG. 10C). Operation 45: Set j of BUFX (j) in Table 5 to 3. Operation 46: From Table 5, BUFX (3) = NUL, indicating the end of data. Action 47: Substitute the value 1 of X (1) into G (1) Action 48: Return the thermal head portion 15 (FIG. 5) to the home position. Operation 49: Next, to print with the blue ink ribbon, the contents of BUFB (j) are copied to BUFX (j) for reading print characters in Table 2. The results are shown in Table 7.

[0038]

[Table 7]

Operation 50: The contents of the blue print amount B (i) in the print number storage area shown in Table 1 are copied to X (i). The results are shown in Table 8.

[0040]

[Table 8]

Operation 51: 2 is set to the constant KC indicating the color to be printed, and 2 is set to the constant OC indicating the position of the blue ink ribbon.
Is substituted. Operation 52: Set j of BUFX (j) in Table 7 to 1. Operation 53: Set i of X (i) in Table 8 to 1. Operation 54: According to Table 7, since BUFX (1) = SP, which is a blank portion, only the carrier 19 (FIG. 5) is moved by one character in the + X direction. Action 55: Set j in BUFX (j) to 2. Operation 56: BUFX (2) = SP, which is a blank portion, so only the carrier moves in the + X direction by one character. Action 57: Set j in BUFX (j) to 3. Operation 58: BUFX (3) = SP, which is a blank portion, so only the carrier is moved by one character in the + X direction. Action 59: Set j in BUFX (j) to 4. Operation 60: BUFX (4) = D, which is a print character. Operation 61: Since X (1) = 1 <M (= 8), it is possible to print on the first blue ink ribbon portion. Operation 62: The ribbon position PO to be printed this time is calculated as P from the formula.
O = 17 is obtained. Action 63: The value of P is 10 from action 44, while the value of PO is 17 from action 62, so the value of PO is larger,
The winding amount of the ink ribbon is PO-P = 7. Operation 64: The character “D” is printed. The printing status of the ink ribbon is as shown in FIG. Operation 65: Add 1 to the print character to X (1). As a result, the value of X (1) becomes 1 from 0 in the previous value. Operation 66: The value obtained by adding 1 to the ribbon peeling amount to the value 17 of PO is substituted for P (P = 18, see FIG. 10D). Action 67: Set j in BUFX (j) in Table 7 to 5. Action 68: BUFX (5) = CR, which indicates a line feed,
Line the carrier and return the thermal head part 15 (Fig. 5) to the home position. As a result, 1 in FIG.
The printing of the line is completed, and the printing of the second line is started. Operation 69: Two lines of “EFG” transmitted from the host device
Similarly to the previous time, the print data of is put in the print data storage area of Table 9 and secured in the area of the RAM 24 (FIG. 6).

[0042]

[Table 9]

The meanings of various symbols in Table 9 are the same as those in Table 2. By printing the second line in the same manner as the previous time (first line), the use result of the used ink ribbon is as shown in FIG. The ink ribbon must be rewound to a predetermined position before the first letter "E" on the second line is printed. When the printing of the first line is completed in the above series of operations (operation 1 to operation 69) and the printing of the second line is further performed in the same procedure, and the printing operation is to be ended this time, The bar code entry operation is performed as follows.

First, in FIG. 5, the carrier 19 is set to + X.
The thermal head 15 on the platen 14 outside the area of the medium 1 by moving the bar code writing / erasing area 2
Move to 0. Next, the ink ribbon is rewound until the leading barcode area L reaches the position corresponding to the thermal head 15, the initial value indicating the new barcode is erased, and new data of the ink ribbon use history is written. . The new data may be the final use positions of the red, green, and blue ink ribbons. In the case of this embodiment, FIG.
As shown in (e), the F position of the red monochromatic ink ribbon (position "4" in FIG. 8), the G position of the green monochromatic ink ribbon (position "10" in FIG. 8), and the F position of the blue monochromatic ink ribbon. The position (position "18" in FIG. 8) should be recorded. The thermal head 15 used for printing is used to enter information in the barcode, and the barcode can be encoded by the encoding method defined in JIS X0502.

Therefore, when the same ink ribbon is used for the next printing, the bar code sensor 21 is used as described above.
It is read in (FIG. 5) and the number of prints in each monochrome ribbon area is stored as shown in Table 10.

[0046]

[Table 10]

Thereafter, the same operation as the previous time is repeated to perform printing. When i = 1, R (1), G
When either (1) or B (1) exceeds M (= 8), the process proceeds to the next i = 2 (R (2), G (2), B (2)).
And ) That is, according to the present embodiment, FIG.
As is clear from the description of (e), the ink ribbons are sequentially used without any waste for each of the red, green, and blue single-color ink ribbons, and as many wastes as the conventional ink ribbon shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. There will be no unused parts left.

When any one of R (i), G (i) and B (i) exceeds M (= 8), the next R (i + 1), G (i + 1), B ( Since the process proceeds to i + 1), it is not necessary to rewind the ink ribbon significantly during printing, and the mechanical operation of the ink ribbon does not become complicated. In the above-described embodiment, the bar code position of the ink ribbon has always been described as being located at the leading portion (L), but only in the case of a new ink ribbon, the leading portion (L) is used before starting use. When the bar code is immediately erased after reading the information and the bar code is to be written after the next time, the bar code can be directly written in the print use area of the ink ribbon. In this case, for example, the ink ribbon is not rewound at the end of printing, but a bar code is written in a portion corresponding to the length L following the previously printed position. If there is no "empty" (unused area) of length L at that position, search for the "empty" area of the single color ink ribbon of the next color and enter the barcode. By sequentially changing the bar code position in this way, it is possible to start printing without rewinding the ink ribbon at the time of the next printing.

The present invention is not limited to the thermal transfer printing apparatus,
The present invention can be applied to various types of multi-color printing devices using an impact type printing device and other ink ribbons.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the multicolor printing using the multicolor ink ribbon, the ink ribbon is not discarded while containing many unused areas. Compared with the multi-color printing method, the waste is markedly reduced and the economical use becomes possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state of multicolor printing (for one line) on a medium.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a portion of a multicolor ink ribbon (printing for one line).

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of multicolor printing (for two lines) on a medium.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a portion of a multicolor ink ribbon (printing for two lines).

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a multicolor printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control unit of the multicolor printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a multicolor ink ribbon used in an example of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of a leading portion of the multicolor ink ribbon.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the multicolor ink ribbon, a sensor, and a head.

FIGS. 10A to 10E are diagrams showing the progress of the printing operation of the multicolor ink ribbon used in the examples of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Medium 14 ... Platen 15 ... Thermal head 16 ... Multicolor ink ribbon 16A, 16B ... Ribbon spool 17, 18 ... Ripon winding motor 19 ... Carrier 20 ... Bar code writing / erasing area 21 ... Bar code reading sensor L ... Top barcode R ... Red G ... Green B ... Blue

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Ink regions of different colors (R1, G1, B)
1, ...) are sequentially repeated in the longitudinal direction, and each ink region has a length enough to print a predetermined number (M), and in the multicolor printing method using a multicolor ink ribbon (16), A multicolor printing method, wherein history data of use in each ink area (R1, G1, B1, ...) Is taken and printing is performed using the history data in the next printing. 2. The multicolor ink ribbon (1) after printing is completed.
2. The multicolor printing method according to claim 1, wherein history data of the ink ribbon is written in the print use area of 6), and printing is performed after reading the history data at the start of the next printing. 3. The multicolor ink ribbon (1) after printing is completed.
2. The multicolor printing method according to claim 1, wherein the history data of the ink ribbon is written in the non-printing area of 6), and the printing is performed after reading the history data at the start of the next printing. . 4. The multicolor printing method according to claim 2, wherein when the printing is restarted, the previous history data is read and then the history data is erased. 5. The recording of the history data on the ink ribbon (16) or the erasing of the history data is performed by the same print head (15) that prints on the medium (1). The multicolor printing method according to any one of claims 2 to 4. 6. The print head (15) is moved to a portion (20) outside the area of the medium (1), and the history data is written or erased by the print head (15). The multicolor printing method according to item 5. 7. Ink regions of different colors (R1, G1, B)
1, ...) are sequentially repeated in the longitudinal direction, each ink region has a length for printing a predetermined number (M), and a multicolor ink ribbon capable of writing history data of ink ribbon use. (16) and means (21) for reading history data of ink ribbon use from the ink ribbon side at the start of printing
And means (16A, 16B, 17, 18) for setting the position of the ink ribbon with respect to the print head (15) based on the read use history data and print signal, and new ink ribbon use history data after printing is completed. And a means (15) for writing on the ink ribbon side. 8. An area (L) indicating that it is an unused ink ribbon is provided at the head position, and subsequently, ink areas (R1, G1, B1, ...) Of different colors are provided in the length direction. Each ink area has a length (M) enough to print a predetermined number of prints, and the unused display area (L) and the ink areas (R1, G1, B1,
...) is a multi-color ink ribbon in which history data of ink ribbon use can be entered and erased.