JPH0949742A - RBI recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: In a dot recorder for performing dot recording of multiple colors by using ink ribbons which are multi-colored in the width direction, color is recorded even when an ink ribbon cassette is not properly attached to a cassette holder. The challenge is to provide a RBI recorder that does not cause mistakes. When an ink ribbon cassette 2a is attached to a cassette holder 5 with an inclination, the inclination is detected by using light shielding plates 4a and 4b and a photo interrupter 3. Based on the result of this detection, no matter where the carriage 1 having the head is located, the cassette holder 5 and the ink ribbon cassette 2a are selected according to the hitting position.
Properly control the amount of displacement.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dot recording recorder for performing color printing using ink ribbons which are multicolored in the width direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional apparatus of this type, an ink ribbon in which a plurality of colors are dyed in the width direction is arranged between a recording paper and a print head, and the ink ribbon is moved in the width direction. By this, dot recording is performed on the recording paper with a desired color.

This dot recording method will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the positional relationship among the ink ribbon, the recording paper, and the print head. In FIG. 7, 71 is the recording paper 7.
2, an ink ribbon arranged so as to face the recording paper 72 along the width direction 2, 73 is an ink ribbon cassette accommodating the ink ribbon, 74 is a cassette holder for mounting the ink ribbon cassette, and 75 is a cassette. A light-shielding plate provided on the back surface of the holder 4, 76 is a photo interrupter, 77 is a head for hitting, and 78 is a platen.

Here, the head 77 is movable in the width direction of the recording paper 72 and performs spot recording at a predetermined position. Further, the cassette holder 75 is displaced in the direction of the arrow (in the width direction of the ink ribbon) in the figure by a drive mechanism (not shown) including a stepping motor or the like. The ink ribbon 71 is also displaced in the width direction according to the displacement of the cassette holder. In order to make the positional relationship between the reference position Z of the dot printing recorder and the reference position of the displacement amount of the cassette holder 74 and the displacement amount of the ink ribbon constant, the photo interrupter 76 and the light shielding plate 7 are fixed.
5 are provided.

In the conventional example configured as described above, when the light shielding plate 75 comes out of the photo interrupter 76, that is, when the output signal of the photo interrupter 76 is changed, how many steps should be taken to drive the ink ribbon. Correspondence is determined in advance as to whether a desired color within 71 is located under the head. By controlling the number of steps of this stepping motor, dot printing with the desired color is performed.

[0006]

However, in the conventional dot recording recorder described above, the position detection using the photo interrupter and the light shielding plate is one of the cases of the cassette holder.
It was done only at the place. Therefore, if such position detection is performed at the position X near 0% of the recording paper as shown in FIG. 8, the cassette holder or the ink ribbon cassette moves the carriage to move the head. When it is inclined with respect to the axis (the central axis of the platen which is parallel to this), a color error occurs when recording near 100% of the recording paper.

In order to prevent such a color mistake,
In the conventional dot recording recorder, high-precision processing and assembly are required, and when the recording span is lengthened, it is necessary to widen the width of each color of the ink ribbon, and the ink ribbon cassette becomes large, which As a result, it has been inevitable that the drive parts of the ink ribbon cassette and the cassette holder will increase in mass and size. This has been a limitation in reducing the size and weight of the dot recorder.

Further, in the conventional dot recording recorder, since the position detection is performed using the light shielding plate provided on the back surface of the cassette holder, when the ink ribbon cassette is not properly attached to the cassette holder, that is, When the longitudinal direction of the cassette holder deviates from the direction of the reference line passing through the reference position Z described above which is parallel to the width direction of the recording paper (direction of the movement axis of the carriage), or when the back surface of the cassette holder and the ink ribbon cassette Even if there was a certain amount of clearance between them, a color error occurred when recording the RBI.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and even if the ink ribbon cassette is not properly attached to the cassette holder, a color error will not occur, and the ink ribbon cassette and the cassette holder will not be mistaken. Another object of the present invention is to obtain a dot recording recorder capable of reducing the size and weight of its driving unit.

[0010]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a dot recording apparatus which detects the position of an ink ribbon cassette with respect to a predetermined reference line parallel to the width direction of a recording sheet.
The inclination of the ink ribbon cassette with respect to the reference line is calculated by using the detection results of two or more cassette position detecting means and the two or more cassette position detecting means, and the displacement amount of the ink ribbon is determined based on the result of this calculation. It is intended to achieve the above-mentioned object by including the displacement amount control means.

In the dot recording recorder of the present invention configured as described above, the position of the ink ribbon cassette is detected by two or more cassette position detecting means, not the position of the cassette holder which is the cassette supporting means, and this detection is performed. The displacement amount determining means uses the result to determine the displacement amount of the ink ribbon in consideration of the inclination of the ink ribbon cassette with respect to the reference line.Therefore, even when the ink ribbon cassette is not properly attached to the cassette holder, a color error may occur. Does not happen.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. Embodiment 1. 1A and 1B are configuration diagrams showing the configuration of a dot recording recorder according to the present invention. FIG. 1A is a plan view and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the head in the width direction of the recording paper (axial direction of the platen).
A carriage 2a for ink ribbon cassette, 2b an ink ribbon cassette, 2b an ink ribbon, 3 a photo interrupter (cassette position detecting means) provided on the upper part of the carriage 1, 4a and 4b a light shielding plate (cassette position detecting means),
5 is a cassette holder (cassette supporting means) for mounting the ink ribbon cassette 2a, 6 is a stepping motor (ink ribbon displacing means) for displacing the ink ribbon cassette 2a and the cassette holder 5, and 7 is displacing the ink ribbon cassette 2a and the cassette holder 5. A gear train (ink ribbon displacing means) for causing the platen, 8 a platen, and 9 a movement axis of the carriage 1.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the light shielding plate 4a. As shown in FIG. 2, the shading plate 4a is provided in the cassette holder 5
It is elastically supported by the support member 21 and the elastic member 22 which are fixed to the back surface of the. This light-shielding plate 4a is arranged so as to penetrate through a hole 5a provided on the back surface of the cassette holder 5, and when the ink ribbon cassette is not mounted, it is placed inside the cassette holder 5 as shown in FIG. It is configured to project. And
When the ink ribbon cassette is mounted, the light shielding plate 4a is displaced according to the position of the mounted ink ribbon cassette. The configuration of the light shielding plate 4b is similar to this.

In the dot recording apparatus constructed as described above, the head for dot recording moves together with the carriage 1 in the width direction of the recording paper (axial direction of the platen 8) to record dot recording at a position where recording should be performed. . In addition, the ink ribbon cassette 2 using the stepping motor 6 and the gear train 7
The ink ribbon 2b is moved in the width direction (the direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen 8) as a and the cassette holder 5 are moved.
Is displaced to. The method of controlling the stepping motor 6 for locating a predetermined color in the ink ribbon 2b under the head is the same as that of the conventional dot recording recorder using the correspondence between the number of steps and the color, but at this time, the ink ribbon cassette 2a is used. Even if there is a certain amount of clearance between the back surface of the cassette holder 5 and the back surface of the cassette holder 5, since the positions of the light shielding plates 4a and 4b are changed by the amount of the clearance, a color error does not occur as in the conventional case.

Now, the positioning of the ink ribbon cassette 2a, which serves as a reference when the ink ribbon in this dot recording recorder is displaced in its width direction, will be described. Since the lengths of the light shielding plates 4a and 4b are constant, a straight line (reference line) through which the photo interrupter 3 passes when the carriage 1 moves and a portion where the light shielding plate 4a or 4b of the ink ribbon cassette 2a contacts. Since the distance is always constant when the output signal of the photo interrupter 3 changes, the ink ribbon cassette 2a can be correctly positioned by detecting the change of the output signal of the photo interrupter 3.

Next, the ink when the ink ribbon cassette 2a is not properly mounted in the cassette holder and the ink ribbon cassette 2a is inclined in the longitudinal direction with respect to the direction of the straight line (reference line) through which the photo interrupter 3 passes. The control of the displacement of the ribbon 2b in the width direction will be described.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state in which the ink ribbon cassette 2a is inclinedly attached to the cassette holder 5 in the dot recording recorder shown in FIG. When the ink ribbon cassette 2a is mounted so as to be inclined with respect to the direction of the reference line, the amount of displacement of the light shielding plate 4a and the amount of displacement of the light shielding plate 4b differ depending on the inclination. This difference in the amount of displacement can be converted into a difference in the number of steps of how many steps the stepping motor 6 is moved from a predetermined location to a location where the output signal of the photo interrupter 3 changes.

Here, a deviation of the number of steps is calculated from the number of steps at the position Y where the light shielding plate 4a is arranged and the number of steps at the position X where the light shielding plate 4b is arranged, and the position X and the position are determined. The inclination of the ink ribbon cassette 2a can be obtained from the distance from Y and the previously obtained deviation.

Next, in this way, the ink ribbon cassette 2 is
The control of the displacement amount of the ink ribbon when a is inclined will be described. In FIG. 3A, at the position Y where the light shielding plate 4a is arranged, a normal (reference displacement amount) corresponding to a predetermined color is set, and at the position X where the light shielding plate 4b is arranged (reference displacement amount + deviation). ), And the stepping motor 6 is controlled to be (reference displacement amount + deviation / 2) at the intermediate point between the position X and the position Y.

As described above, in the dot-spot recorder according to the present invention, when dot-spot recording is performed with the same color, for example, the first color in the ink ribbon 2b, when the ink ribbon cassette 2a is mounted at an inclination, the recording paper 0% side and 100%
Since the amount of displacement of the ink ribbon on the side is different from that on the side, recording can be performed using the vicinity of the center of the first color even on the 0% side as shown in FIG. 4, and on the 100% side as shown in FIG. Recording can be performed using the vicinity of the center of the first color.
That is, in the dot-spot recorder according to the present invention, it is possible to perform recording over the entire range of the recording span by using the vicinity of the center of a predetermined color in the ink ribbon 2b.

Embodiment 2 FIG. In the dot-spot recorder described above, the shading plates 4a and 4b are provided on the cassette holder 5. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the shading plates 4a and 4b are provided integrally with the ink ribbon cassette 2a. Good. The position detection of the ink ribbon cassette 2a and the inclination detection thereof may be performed for each scan of the head that performs the printing point, or may be performed for each predetermined time.

Further, in the above-mentioned dot recording recorder, the light shielding plates are provided at two places. However, if the light shielding plates are provided at three or more places, not only the inclination of the ink ribbon cassette 2a with respect to the reference line, but also the ink ribbon cassette is formed. The "warpage" of the 2a itself can be detected, and the displacement amount can be controlled with higher accuracy according to the detected "warpage".

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the plurality of cassette position detecting means accurately detect the position of the ink ribbon cassette with respect to a predetermined reference line at two or more places, and the displacement amount controlling means is obtained according to the detection result. Since it is configured to properly control the displacement amount of the ink ribbon according to the hitting position, it is possible to prevent color mistakes, reduce the width of the ink ribbon, and reduce the size of the ink ribbon cassette. This has the effect of reducing the size and weight of the dot recording recorder.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a light shielding plate according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship of each part in a conventional dot recording recorder.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the operation of a conventional dot recording recorder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2a Ink ribbon cassette 2b Ink ribbon 3 Photo interrupter (cassette position detecting means) 4a, 4b Light-shielding plate (cassette position detecting means) 5 Cassette holder (cassette supporting means) 6 Stepping motor (ink ribbon displacing means) 7 Gatrain (ink ribbon displacement) Means) 77 head (printing head)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon that is multi-colored in the width direction, an ink ribbon cassette that accommodates the ink ribbon and supports the ink ribbon used for recording in an exposed state, and the ink ribbon. Cassette supporting means for supporting the ink ribbon cassette so that the ink ribbon is positioned along the width direction of the recording paper, facing the recording paper, and the ink ribbon is positioned between the print head for printing and the recording paper. An ink ribbon displacement means for moving the cassette supporting means so that the position of the ink ribbon is displaced in the width direction of the ink ribbon, and the ink ribbon cover with respect to a predetermined reference line set parallel to the width direction of the recording paper. At least 2 to detect the position of the set
The inclination of the ink ribbon cassette with respect to the reference line is calculated using the detection results of at least two cassette position detection means and at least two cassette position detection means, and the ink ribbon displacement means is based on the calculation result. And a displacement amount control means for determining a displacement amount of the ink ribbon with respect to the reference line in the width direction.