JPH10202992A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a thermal printer capable of automatically setting an appropriate peeling time according to the type of an ink ribbon. SOLUTION: A thermal head 5 for thermally transferring the ink of an ink ribbon 2 to a recording medium 9, and a thermal head 5 provided on a transport path 10 for transporting the recording medium 9 downstream of the thermal head 5 are provided. A thermal printer 1 including a peeling unit 8 for peeling the ink ribbon 2 adhered to the recording medium 9 from the recording medium 9
Type determining means 25 for determining the type of the ink ribbon 2,
Storage means 24 for storing the position information of the peeling means 8 corresponding to the type of the ink ribbon 2, a moving mechanism 11 for moving the peeling means 8 along the transport direction of the transport path 10, and a determination result of the type determining means 25 And a movement control means 22 for moving the peeling means 8 to a predetermined position by driving the movement mechanism 11 based on the position information of the storage means 24 corresponding to.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer for printing predetermined information on a recording medium by a thermal head, and more particularly, to peeling off an ink ribbon adhered to the recording medium during thermal transfer by the thermal head. The present invention relates to a thermal printer provided with a peeling means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional thermal printer 51 shown in FIG.
Includes a supply roll 3 for supplying the ink ribbon 2, a take-up roll 4 for winding the ink ribbon 2, a thermal head 5, a platen roller 6, a paper guide 7, and an ink ribbon peeling plate 8. In this conventional thermal printer 51, after thermal transfer is performed by the thermal head 5 in a state where the recording paper 9 and the ink ribbon 2 are pressed against each other by the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 6, the recording paper 9 and the ink ribbon 2 are brought into close contact with each other. In this state, the sheet is transported to the downstream side of the transport path 10. After that, when both are transported to the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8,
The ink ribbon 2 is peeled from the recording paper 9 by the winding roll 4 winding the ink ribbon 2 with the leading end of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 as a turning point.

[0003] In a general thermal printer, an ink ribbon coated with any one of a resin type, a wax type, and a mixture of these is used. These ink ribbons slightly differ in optimal time from the time of thermal transfer of the thermal head 5 to the time when the ink ribbon is separated from the recording paper 9 depending on the type. Therefore, in order to maintain high print quality with low printing unevenness, high resolution, and high transfer efficiency, depending on the type of ink ribbon, hot peeling, cold peeling, or peeling in the middle of these For example, it is preferable to perform an optimal peeling treatment. For this reason, in the conventional thermal printer 51, the ink ribbon 2
The optimal time to peel off is determined by experiment in advance,
The ink ribbon release plate 8 is fixedly provided at a position determined based on the obtained time and the transport speed of the recording paper 9.

[0004]

However, the conventional thermal printer 51 has the following problems. That is, the user, for example, a recording paper of a type suitable for a desired type of printing method, such as a print that is not blurred even by the adhesion of alcohol, and a printer maker recommending that the recording paper most closely matches the characteristics of the recording paper. When an ink ribbon of a type different from that used is used, the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 fixedly disposed on the thermal printer 51 may not always be the optimum position. For this reason, the time until the ink ribbon is peeled off by the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 cannot be said to be optimal, and as a result, there is a problem that the print quality may be reduced.

Further, in the case where the thermal printer 51 is connected to a host computer for transferring print data, and the transport speed of the recording paper 9 is varied according to the print speed information added to the print data. Since the distance between the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 and the thermal head 5 is constant, the ink ribbon
There is also a problem that as a result of a change in the time until peeling (hereinafter referred to as “peeling time”), the print quality is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and has as its main object to provide a thermal printer capable of automatically setting an appropriate peeling time according to the type of an ink ribbon. Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermal printer capable of automatically setting an appropriate peeling time even when the transport speed is changed.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal printer for thermally transferring ink of an ink ribbon onto a recording medium, and a thermal head for transporting the recording medium. A type determination unit for determining the type of the ink ribbon in a thermal printer including a separation unit disposed downstream of the thermal head and configured to separate the ink ribbon adhered to the recording medium during thermal transfer by the thermal head; Means, storage means for storing position information of the peeling means corresponding to the type of the ink ribbon, a moving mechanism for moving the peeling means along the transport direction of the transport path, and storage corresponding to the determination result of the type determining means. Movement control means for moving the peeling means to a predetermined position by driving the movement mechanism based on the position information of the means. And wherein the Rukoto. In the present invention, the "position information" refers to a position itself indicating a target position to which the peeling unit is to be moved, a moving distance required to move the peeling unit from a predetermined reference position to a target position, and This is a concept including information such as a driving amount for driving the moving mechanism.

In this thermal printer, for example, an identification means for identifying the type of the ink ribbon is provided on the ink ribbon itself or an ink ribbon supply roll around which the ink ribbon is wound. The type of the ink ribbon is determined. Next, the movement control means drives the moving mechanism in accordance with the position information corresponding to the result of the discrimination by the type discrimination means among the position information stored in the storage means, thereby moving the peeling means to a predetermined position. Here, by storing the position information at which the optimum peeling time is obtained in accordance with the type of the ink ribbon in the storage unit, it is possible to maintain excellent print quality even when the type of the ink ribbon is changed. It becomes possible.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the thermal printer according to the first aspect, wherein the movement control means corrects a movement position of the peeling means in accordance with a transport speed at which the recording medium is transported.

In this thermal printer, for example, when print data is transferred from a host computer or the like connected to the thermal printer, and the recording medium is conveyed at a speed corresponding to the print speed information added to the print data, The movement control means corrects the movement position of the peeling means according to the transport speed. This makes it possible to correct a deviation from the optimum peeling time due to a change in the transport speed of the recording medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the thermal printer according to the first aspect, wherein the storage unit stores position information of the peeling unit corresponding to the transport speed of transporting the recording medium and the type of the ink ribbon. The control means moves the peeling means based on the determination result of the type determination means and the position information of the storage means corresponding to the transport speed.

In this thermal printer, the storage means comprises:
The position information of the peeling means corresponding to the transport speed for transporting the recording medium and the type of the ink ribbon is stored in advance. Therefore, the movement control means can immediately move the peeling means so as to obtain the optimum peeling time based on the result of the determination by the type determining means and the position information of the storage means corresponding to the transport speed.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to the accompanying drawings, a thermal printer according to the present invention will now be described with reference to a label for printing predetermined characters, figures, etc. on a plurality of labels which are previously adhered to a label paper as a recording paper. A preferred embodiment applied to a printer will be described. Hereinafter, the same components as those of the conventional thermal printer 51 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of main mechanical components of the thermal printer 1. This thermal printer 1
In addition to the configuration of the conventional thermal printer 51, a moving mechanism 11 for moving the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 is provided. The moving mechanism 11 includes a stepping motor 12 and a gear 13 mounted on a motor shaft of the stepping motor 12.
And a belt 16 suspended between a shaft 15 rotatably fixed to a predetermined position and a shaft 15. The ink ribbon peeling plate 8 is fixed to the belt 16. . Further, a detecting piece 17 is attached to the ink ribbon peeling plate 8. When the detecting piece 17 is located at a reference position which is a position closest to the thermal head 5, the detecting piece 17 is not shown. Is detected by the photo sensor 18 attached to the main body frame.

Next, the electrical configuration of the thermal printer 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG.
Is a CPU 22 connected to a separate host computer 20 via a communication line 21 and corresponds to movement control means in the present invention; and temporarily stores print data as bitmap data transferred from the host computer 20. A ROM 23 which stores a control program of the CPU 21 and a position data table which will be described later, and which corresponds to a storage means in the present invention;
And a ribbon determining unit 25 for determining the type of the ribbon.

As shown in FIG. 2, the position data table stored in the ROM 24 is based on the reference position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 with respect to the type of the ink ribbon 2 and the transport speed of the recording paper 9 (see FIG. 4). 3 shows distance data. Specifically, for example, when the type of the ink ribbon 2 is the type A and the conveyance speed of the recording paper 9 is 25 mm / sec, the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 is moved L ₁₁ mm downstream from the reference position (to the stepping motor 12 side). 4) shows the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 at which the peeling time is most suitable for the type when placed.

The ribbon discriminating unit 25 is composed of, for example, a photosensor, irradiates light from the side of the paper tube 31 of the supply roll 3 when the supply roll 3 rotates, and winds around the supply roll 3 based on reflected light. A detection signal for determining the type of the ink ribbon is output to the CPU 22. Specifically, the ink ribbon 2 is attached to the end face of the paper tube 31.
A mark 32 formed by applying black color is attached to identify the mark 3 and the irradiation light
Then, a decrease in the reflected light level when irradiating No. 2 is detected.

Next, the overall operation of the thermal printer 1 will be described.

First, the outline of the control for transporting the recording paper 9 in the thermal printer 1 will be described. In the thermal printer 1, when print data is transferred from the host computer 20, the CPU 22 temporarily stores the print data in the RAM 23. Next, the CPU 22 controls the conveyance of the recording paper 9, reads out print data from the RAM 23 and outputs a print pulse to the thermal head 5 when the position where the label is to be printed reaches the thermal head 5. Print characters, etc. On the other hand, when print data is being transferred from the host computer 20 even though the position where the label is to be printed is about to reach the thermal head 5, the CPU 22 reduces the transport speed of the recording paper 9 to reduce the printing speed. Upon receiving the data, the label is surely printed at a predetermined print position. The transport speed of the recording paper 9 can be controlled from the host computer 20 side.
Controls the conveying speed of the recording paper 9 stepwise based on the speed data transmitted from the host computer 20. This makes it possible to reliably prevent the printing line from being missed and to reduce the printing time, as compared with a method in which the recording paper 9 is conveyed backward after being conveyed in reverse, or in which the conveyance of the recording paper 9 is interrupted. Have been.

Next, the printing process will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in the figure, the CPU 22 determines whether or not the ink ribbon 2 is attached based on the detection signal of the ribbon determining section 25 (step 41).
When the ink ribbon 2 is present, the CPU 22
By measuring the number of times the level of the reflected light detected by the ribbon discriminating unit 25 has decreased within the time required for one rotation of one, the number of the attached marks 32 is measured. Next, the CPU 22 determines the type of the ink ribbon 2 based on the measured value (Step 42), and stores the determination result in the RAM 23 (Step 43).

Next, the CPU 22 determines whether print data has been transferred from the host computer 20 (step 44). When being transferred, C
The PU 22 determines the transport speed of the recording paper 9 based on the print speed data transmitted together with the print data (Step 45), and stores the determination result in the RAM 23 (Step 46).

Next, the CPU 22 reads distance data from the reference position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 from the position data table stored in the ROM 24 based on the type and the transport speed of the ink ribbon 2 (step 47). . At this time, the CPU 22 calculates the number of drive pulses of the stepping motor 12 necessary for moving the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 by the distance. Next, the CPU 22 drives the stepping motor 12 until the detection piece 17 of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 is detected by the photo sensor 18. When the detection piece 17 is detected by the photo sensor 18, the stepping motor 12 is driven by the number of drive pulses calculated by using the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 at that time as a reference position (step 48), thereby removing the ink ribbon. The plate 8 is moved from the reference position to the downstream side of the transport path 10 by a predetermined distance, and thereafter, printing is started (step 49). Even after the printing is started, when the transport speed is changed by the host computer 20,
The CPU 22 moves the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 by the same processing as described above.

After the start of printing, the CPU 22 drives a transport motor (not shown) to drive the platen roller 6,
A guide roller (not shown) for transporting the label paper, a supply roll 3 and a take-up roll 4 are driven. Accordingly, the ink ribbon 2 fed from the supply roll 3 and the recording paper 9 are transported on the transport path 10, and the label on the recording paper 9 is transported to the position of the thermal head 5. The thermal head 5 is moved downward, and is pressed against the platen roller 6 with the ink ribbon 2 and the recording paper 9 overlapped. Next, printing is performed by transferring the ink of the ink ribbon 2 to the label by the heat generated by the thermal head 5. Next, when the recording paper 9 is conveyed to the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8, the ink ribbon 2 is wound up by the take-up roll 4 with the leading end of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 as a turning point, so that the ink ribbon 2 is wound. 2 is peeled from the recording paper 9. Thereafter, the recording paper 9 is discharged from a discharge port (not shown), and printing is completed.

As described above, according to the thermal printer 1 of this embodiment, the position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 is controlled to move according to the type of the ink ribbon 2 and the transport speed of the recording paper 9 as a recording medium. As a result, the ink ribbon 2 is transferred from the recording paper 9
It is possible to control the peeling time from peeling to the optimal time.

As described above, various preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately modified. For example,
The position data table stored in the ROM 24 may be formed by the number of drive pulses of the stepping motor 12 instead of the distance data. In such a case, the calculation of the number of drive pulses of the stepping motor 12 by the CPU 22 can be omitted, and the print processing time can be reduced. In addition, as a position data table, the ink ribbon 2
Only the distance data for the type of
U22 can also correct the moving position of the ink ribbon peeling plate 8 according to the transport speed of the recording paper 9, that is, the printing speed.

Further, in the present embodiment, the ink ribbon 2
Although the example in which the identification mark 32 is provided on the paper core 31 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the identification means may be provided on the ink ribbon itself, or by using a keyboard or the like.
By inputting the type of the ink ribbon, the CPU 22
May be configured to recognize the type of the ink ribbon.

In this embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a label printer has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to all thermal printers.

[0030]

As described above, according to the thermal printer of the first aspect, the type determination means determines the type of the ink ribbon, and the movement control means determines the position of the ink ribbon from among the position information stored in the storage means. As a result of driving the moving mechanism in accordance with the position information corresponding to the determination result of the type determining means and moving the peeling means to a predetermined position, the peeling time can be automatically set to an optimal time according to the type of the ink ribbon. Therefore, excellent print quality can be maintained even when the type of the ink ribbon is changed. In addition, since a plurality of types of ink ribbons can be used, a recording medium suitable for a printing method desired by a user can be used.

Further, according to the thermal printer of the present invention, the movement control means corrects the moving position of the peeling means in accordance with the transport speed, so that the optimum peeling time due to the change in the transport speed can be reduced. The deviation can be corrected, so that excellent print quality can be maintained even when the transport speed is changed stepwise.

According to the thermal printer of the present invention, the position information of the peeling means with respect to the type and the transport speed of the ink ribbon is stored in the storage means in advance, so that the movement control means can determine the result of the determination by the type determining means. In addition, based on the position information of the storage unit corresponding to the transport speed, the peeling unit can be immediately moved so that the optimum peeling time can be obtained, so that the printing processing time can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical configuration of a thermal printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing contents of a position data table stored in a ROM of the thermal printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a printing process in the thermal printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a thermal printer according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional thermal printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal printer 2 Ink ribbon 5 Thermal head 8 Ink ribbon peeling plate 9 Recording paper 10 Conveyance path 11 Moving mechanism 22 CPU 24 ROM 25 Ribbon discriminator

Claims (3)

[Claims] A thermal head for thermally transferring the ink of the ink ribbon to a recording medium; and a thermal head disposed on a transport path for transporting the recording medium downstream of the thermal head. A thermal printer including a peeling unit for peeling the ink ribbon in close contact with the recording medium; a type determining unit configured to determine a type of the ink ribbon; and a type determination unit configured to correspond to the type of the ink ribbon. A storage unit that stores the position information of the peeling unit, a moving mechanism that moves the peeling unit along the transport direction of the transport path, and a position information of the storage unit that corresponds to the determination result of the type determination unit. Movement control means for moving the peeling means to a predetermined position by driving the movement mechanism. Thermal printer to be. 2. The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the movement control means corrects a movement position of the peeling means according to a conveyance speed at which the recording medium is conveyed. 3. The storage unit stores position information of the peeling unit corresponding to a transport speed of transporting the recording medium and a type of the ink ribbon, and the movement control unit includes:
2. The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the peeling unit is moved based on a determination result of the type determining unit and position information of the storage unit corresponding to the transport speed.