JPH0993400A - Serial printer with built-in image scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To attain simple control even with a different resolution by selecting the resolution of a read element of the image scanner to be lower than the resolution of a recording element of a recording head so as to reduce the cost of the printer as a whole. SOLUTION: The relation between a resolution of an image sensor being a read element of the image scanner and a resolution of a recording element of a thermal head 13 being a recording head is selected specifically. That is, the resolution of the read element of the image scanner is selected lower than the resolution of the recording element of the thermal head 13 being the recording head, and the ratio of the resolution of the read element of the image scanner to the resolution of the recording element of the thermal head 13 is selected to be M:N (M and N are integers and M<N). Furthermore, the read range of the image scanner by one scanning of a carriage section 11 is made the same as the recording range of the thermal head 13. Moreover, the image scanner is connected electrically to a control means 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a serial printer equipped with an image scanner capable of reading an image on a document on a carriage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, while moving a carriage in a printing direction, an image scanner mounted on the carriage reads an original image on a platen, converts the read image data into a recording signal, and drives a recording head. Then, a serial printer equipped with an image scanner for recording on a recording medium has been proposed.

In such a serial printer,
An image scanner having a plurality of reading elements and a recording head having a plurality of recording elements are mounted side by side in the carriage movement direction at a position facing the platen of the carriage. The respective elements are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage.

Then, while moving the carriage in the printing direction, the image of the original set on the platen is read by an image scanner, and then the read optical information is converted into color signals to drive the recording head,
It is designed to be recorded on paper. Further, in this serial printer, both the original and the paper are similarly conveyed by the same paper feeding mechanism.

Further, the reading element of the image scanner and the recording element of the recording head have the same resolution (resolution),
Moreover, the reading range and the recording range are the same, and the read data is recorded in a one-to-one correspondence.

[0006]

In the conventional serial printer equipped with the image scanner, since the image scanner and the print head have the same resolution as described above, when the print head is driven based on the read signal. However, it is necessary to use an image scanner with the same resolution according to the resolution of the recording head, and the image with the same resolution may be used depending on the resolution of the recording head used. Since the scanner is not on the market, there is a problem that the image scanner has to be newly developed. Further, because of this, the number of image scanners having the same resolution used is small, which causes a cost increase.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and it is possible to reduce the cost of the entire apparatus by using a recording head having a different resolution and an easily available image scanner. It is an object of the present invention to provide a serial printer equipped with an image scanner that can be easily controlled even if different resolutions are used.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a printer equipped with an image scanner according to claim 1 has an image at a position facing a platen of a carriage reciprocally movable along the platen. A serial printer having an image scanner for reading the image and a recording head for printing, wherein the resolution of the reading element of the image scanner is lower than the resolution of the recording element of the recording head, or the reading of the image scanner is performed. The ratio of the resolution of the element and the resolution of the recording element of the recording head is M: N
(M and N are integers and M <N).

The reading range of the image scanner and the recording range of the recording head for one scan of the carriage may be formed to be equal.

[0010]

According to the present invention, since the resolution of the image scanner and the resolution of the recording head are different, it is possible to configure the serial printer using the image scanner which can be easily obtained even if there is no same resolution. .

Further, since the resolution of the image scanner is lower than the resolution of the recording head, the recording data obtained by converting the read image data into color signals is averaged so as to correspond to the resolution of the recording head. Good printing can be performed by feeding and driving the head.

[0012]

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

1 to 8 show an example in which the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer printer using a thermal head. Of course, the present invention can be applied to serial printers such as inkjet printers and wire dot printers.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the serial printer 1 of the present embodiment has a frame 2 having a substantially rectangular plane shape which is disposed inside a printer body (not shown). A plate-shaped platen 3 is arranged on the frame 2 so as to extend in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 with its recording surface 3a being substantially vertical. A carriage unit 4 is disposed in front of the platen 3 (downward in FIG. 1) so as to be capable of reciprocating in parallel with the platen 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the carriage unit 4
A drive belt 5 is disposed below the drive belt 5, and the carriage unit 4 is fixed to one position of the drive belt 5. The drive belt 5 is wound around a pair of left and right pulleys 6, 6 arranged near the left and right ends of the frame 2 in FIG. One of the pulleys 6 shown on the right side in FIG. 1 is a carriage motor 7 including a step motor or the like as a driving unit indicated by a broken line on the right side in FIG.
It is possible to rotate with the driving force of. Further, the carriage motor 7 is electrically connected to a control means 8 which will be described later, which is arranged at a desired position of the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8. There is.

That is, by driving the carriage motor 7 based on the control command sent from the control means 8, the carriage unit 4 is moved to the double arrow A in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the platen 3 is reciprocally moved.

The drive belt 5, the pulleys 6, 6 and the carriage motor 7 constitute drive means 10 for reciprocating the carriage unit 4 in the main scanning direction of an image scanner 9 as an image reading means which will be described later. .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the carriage unit 4 has a carriage section 11 located on the right side and a scanner mounting section 12 located on the left side of the carriage section 11.

A thermal head 13 as a recording means is arranged in the carriage portion 11 so as to face the recording surface 3a of the platen 3. The thermal head 13 is provided with a plurality of heat generating elements (not shown) arranged in an array that selectively generate heat on the basis of print information (image data used for printing) in accordance with a control command from a control unit 8 described later. And a platen 3 by a head driving mechanism (not shown).
Of the recording surface 3a. And
The contact position between the thermal head 13 and the platen 3 in the head-down state where the platen 3 is in contact with the recording surface 3a is the recording position.

Further, on the upper surface of the carriage portion 11, as shown in FIG.
The ink ribbon (not shown) is stored in the left side of the ink ribbon as shown by an imaginary line, and this ink ribbon (not shown)
A ribbon cassette 14 for guiding the sheet to the front of the thermal head 13 can be mounted. Further, the carriage unit 1
1, a winding bobbin 15 and a delivery bobbin 16 are arranged so that their tip ends project from the upper surface of the carriage unit 11. The take-up bobbin 15 and the delivery bobbin 16 compose a part of a well-known ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown). In the recording state, the ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown) is driven to drive the carriage. An ink ribbon (not shown) housed inside a ribbon cassette 14 mounted on the upper surface of the section 11 is made to run.

The thermal head 13, head drive mechanism (not shown), ribbon running mechanism (not shown), etc.
It is electrically connected to a control means 8 described later, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8.

As shown in FIG. 4, the scanner mounting portion 12
Has a case body 17 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape in which an opening 17 a is formed on the surface facing the platen 3.
An image scanner 9 is arranged inside 7.
The image scanner 9 has an opening 17a of the case body 17.
4 (in the upper left of FIG. 4), in the image reading state, toward the document 19 such as a photograph or a postcard arranged in a document holder (not shown) held in front of the platen 3 via the lens 18 One light source 20 that emits light
And a small image sensor 21 which is disposed substantially in the center of the case body 17 and reads image information of the original 19 by reflected light reflected from the original 19 and outputs an image signal in an image reading state. And an image sensor unit 22.

Here, the resolution of the image sensor 21 which is the reading element of the image scanner 9 and the resolution of the recording element of the thermal head 13 which is the recording head in this embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The resolution of the reading element of the image sensor 21 of the image scanner 9 is 400 dpi and the number of elements is 96. The resolution of the recording (heating) element of the other thermal head 13 is 600 dpi, the number of elements is 144, and the elements are arrayed in the moving direction and the orthogonal direction, and the length L in the arraying direction of both elements is the same. Has been formed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the resolution of the reading element of the image scanner 9 is formed lower than the resolution of the recording element of the thermal head 13, which is the recording head, and the resolution of the reading element of the image scanner 9 is further increased. And the resolution ratio of the recording elements of the thermal head 13 is M:
N (M and N are integers and M <N, and in the present embodiment, 2:
3), further, the reading range of the image scanner 9 by one scan of the carriage unit 11 and the thermal head 1.
The recording range of 3 is formed to have the same length (L). By setting the resolution ratio to an integer ratio in this way,
The reading element of the image scanner 9 and the thermal head 13
The number of each element with the recording element can also be designed as a multiple of the integer ratio, and the production is easy.

Further, the image scanner 9 is electrically connected to the control means 8 described later.

Further, the scanner mounting portion 12 can reciprocate along the platen 3 by the driving force of the carriage motor 7 together with the carriage portion 11 in the image reading state, and the carriage indicated by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. The moving direction of the unit 4 is the main scanning direction in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 19 is read by the image scanner 9.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the image scanner 9 is provided with a reference plate 23 which is erected on the upper surface on the left side of the frame 2 so as to be positioned on the extension line of the platen 3,
A color reference (white balance) for reading the image information of the original 19 is obtained. This reference plate 23 is
As shown in FIG. 5, the front surface has a substantially rectangular shape, and the surface 23a facing the image scanner 9 is white with a high lightness, which serves as a reference color when reading the original 19.

As shown in FIG. 3, a position detecting means 24 is provided on the left side surface of the scanner mounting portion 12.
The position detecting means 24 detects the moving position of the carriage unit 4, and when the carriage unit 4 is located at the home position HP shown by an imaginary line in FIG. The position can be detected by making contact with the left side wall (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 6, below the platen 3, the original 19 or the recording sheet 25 passes in front of the recording surface 3a of the platen 3, as indicated by an arrow B in FIG. As described above, the paper feed roller 26 for conveying at a predetermined speed is provided. This paper feed roller 26
As shown in FIG. 1, can be rotated by the driving force of a paper feed motor 27 including a stepping motor or the like as a driving unit arranged outside the right side surface of the frame 2. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, an auxiliary roller 28 that is brought into contact with the paper feed roller 26 with a desired pressure contact force is rotatably disposed below and to the right of the paper feed roller 26. The auxiliary roller 28 is the paper feed roller 2
6 is driven to rotate. That is, the manuscript 19
Alternatively, the paper 25 includes a paper feed roller 26 and an auxiliary roller 28.
, So that the vehicle can travel.
A guide (not shown) for guiding the document 19 or the paper 25 so as to travel on a predetermined transport path is provided at an appropriate position around the paper feed roller 26.

The paper feed motor 27 is electrically connected to a control means 8 which will be described later and is arranged at a desired position on the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8. It is like this.

That is, by driving the paper feed motor 27 on the basis of the control command sent from the control means 8, the original 19 or the paper 25 is moved as shown by the arrow B in FIG. 1 and FIG. In FIG. 1, the carriage 19 is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage unit 4, and in FIG. 1 and FIG. It is in the sub-scanning direction in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 19 is read.

The paper feed roller 26 and the paper feed motor 27
Further, the auxiliary roller 28 constitutes a conveying means 29 for moving the original 19 or the paper 25 in the sub-scanning direction.

A control means 8 for controlling the operation of each part of the serial printer 1 is arranged at a desired position on the frame 2.

As shown in FIG. 8, the control means 8 receives from the operation panel 30 an instruction such as the start of printing and controls the operation of each component, and the A / D output from the image scanner 9. Input data such as original image data which is image information of the original 19 converted into a digital binary electric signal by the converter 32 is converted into recording information (recording data, color signal, etc.), or based on the recording information. A gate array 33 that calculates and outputs an energization time, energization voltage, etc. to each heating element of the thermal head 13, a head drive driver 34 used to energize a heating element (not shown) of the thermal head 13, a carriage motor 7 Carriage motor driver 35 used to drive the
A paper feed motor driver 36 used to drive the paper feed motor 27 is provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

According to the serial printer 1 of this embodiment,
By moving the image scanner 9 in the main scanning direction and the manuscript 19 in the sub scanning direction of the image scanner 9 based on the control command sent from the control means 8, the image information of the manuscript 19 is line by line. The read image information is used as print information for printing, and each unit is operated based on the print information to print on the paper 25 using the thermal head 13.

First, the image data read by the image sensor 21 of the image scanner 9 is A as an optical signal.
Binarized by the / D converter 32, and the gate array 3
Image processing is performed by 3 and converted into a color signal as a recording signal. Further, the gate array 33 also calculates the energization time to the thermal head 13 based on the recording signal, and the head drive driver 34 is provided with the thermal head 13.
A drive signal for energizing each of the heating elements is sent.

At this time, the data for 2 × 2 reading elements of the image sensor 21 of the image scanner 9 becomes the recording data for 3 × 3 heating elements of the thermal head 13.
For example, the data for 2 × 2 reading elements of the image sensor 21 of the image scanner 9 is used as one unit, and the average density of this portion is obtained. This is converted into an average density when expressed by a 3 × 3 matrix, and only the heat generating elements required for the thermal head are driven.

By printing in this manner, a good recorded image can be obtained by simple control even when the image scanner 9 having a different resolution and the thermal head 13 which is a recording head are used.

In the above embodiment, the ratio of the resolution of the reading element of the image scanner 9 to the resolution of the recording element of the thermal head 13 is set to 2: 3, but it is obvious that the ratio is not limited to this. By using the image scanner having a resolution of 300 dpi, when the image scanner 9 having a resolution ratio of 1: 2 and the thermal head 13 which is a recording head are used, one read data is equivalent to 2 × 2. The recording element may be used for printing.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be modified as necessary.

[0043]

Since the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, it is possible to form a serial printer by using recording heads having different resolutions and an image scanner that is easily available. The cost can be reduced, and even if the recording head and the image scanner having different resolutions are used, the control can be easily performed, and high-quality printing can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a serial printer of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the carriage unit of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a configuration of a main part in the scanner mounting part of FIG.

5 is a front view showing the reference plate of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the reading element of the image scanner and the recording element of the thermal head.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control means used in the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 serial printer 3 platen 4 carriage unit 8 control means 9 image scanner 13 thermal head 21 image sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A serial printer comprising an image scanner for reading an image and a recording head for printing at a position of a carriage reciprocally movable along the platen at a position facing the platen, the image scanner A serial printer equipped with an image scanner characterized in that the resolution of the reading element of is lower than the resolution of the recording element of the recording head. 2. The ratio of the resolution of the reading element of the image scanner to the resolution of the recording element of the recording head is M: N.
2. A serial printer equipped with an image scanner according to claim 1, wherein M and N are integers and M <N. 3. The serial printer equipped with the image scanner according to claim 1, wherein the reading range of the image scanner for one scan of the carriage is equal to the recording range of the recording head.