JP2010076124A - Printer apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer apparatus capable of keeping highly precisely a printing starting position regardless of the consumption of an ink ribbon without accompanying any restriction on paper to be used. <P>SOLUTION: The printer apparatus in which the ink ribbon 3 wound on a winding reel 1 from a delivering reel 2 is fed to a printing part with the paper 4, has a rotary encoder 5 for detecting a conveying speed of the ink ribbon 3 and a controlling part 6 for changing the amount of delivery of the paper when the paper is fed to the printing part in accordance with the conveying speed of the ink ribbon 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printer apparatus in which an ink ribbon wound up from a feeding reel to a winding reel is supplied to a printing unit together with paper.

  In the printer apparatus in which the ink ribbon wound from the feeding reel to the winding reel is supplied to the printing unit together with the paper, the winding diameter of the ink ribbon varies depending on the degree of use of the ink ribbon.

  In other words, when the ink ribbon is first used, most of the ink ribbon is wound around the feeding reel, so that the winding diameter of the ribbon on the winding reel is small. On the other hand, at the end of use, most of the ink ribbon is wound around the take-up reel, so that the take-up diameter of the ribbon on the take-up reel is large.

  The conveyance speed of the ink ribbon supplied to the printing unit is determined by the rotation speed of the take-up reel. For this reason, when the rotation speed of the feeding reel is constant, the ink ribbon transport speed increases as the ink ribbon is wound on the winding reel.

The paper supplied to the predetermined position of the printing unit at the start of printing is dragged along with the conveyance of the ink ribbon. Such a state is shown in FIG. In the figure, for easy understanding, it is assumed that a label attached to the mount is supplied as a sheet to the printing unit, and a position immediately above the sheet conveyance roller (platen) is a printing start position.
As the ink ribbon transport speed increases, the amount dragged by the ink ribbon also increases. Therefore, if the paper feed amount at the start of printing is determined so that the paper is arranged at the print start position with reference to the ink ribbon conveyance speed at the start of the ink ribbon shown in FIG. 3A, FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, as the ink ribbon is used, the sheet is fed to a position shifted from the printing start position.

In order to solve such a problem, one of three methods has been taken.
In the first method, drive sources are provided on both the ribbon feeding side and the winding side, a change in the diameter of the ribbon on the winding side is detected by a rotary encoder or the like, and the amount of rotation of the motor is adjusted. By adjusting the number of rotations of the motor, synchronization with the paper feed amount is taken and the deviation of the print start position is eliminated.

  In the second method, a friction mechanism is provided on the winding side of the ribbon so that the reel rotates idly when the number of rotations of the reel on the winding side reaches a certain value, and an upper limit is set for the ink ribbon conveyance speed. .

In the third method, as in the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1, after detecting the leading edge or trailing edge of a mark printed in advance on the printing paper, the paper is fed for a predetermined paper feeding time and the printing start position is detected. And When a deviation occurs between the frame preprinted on the printing paper and the print data, the calibration mode is executed. In the calibration mode, the time from the detection of the leading edge of the mark to the detection of the trailing edge is measured, and a predetermined paper feed time is corrected according to the difference from a predetermined reference time. Eliminate printing misalignment.
JP 2000-318249 A

  However, in the first method, since the motor is installed on each of the ribbon feeding side and the ribbon winding side, the manufacturing cost of the apparatus is increased.

  Further, in the second method, since the accuracy of the friction mechanism varies, it is actually difficult to synchronize the ink ribbon transport speed and the paper feed amount.

  In the third method, there is a restriction that the mark must be printed on the printing paper in advance.

  As described above, a printer apparatus that can maintain the printing start position with high accuracy regardless of the amount of ink ribbon used without any restriction on the paper to be used has not been provided.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a printer device that can maintain the print start position with high accuracy regardless of the amount of ink ribbon used without any restriction on the paper to be used. To do.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a printer device in which an ink ribbon wound from a feed reel to a take-up reel is supplied to a printing unit together with paper, and detects the ink ribbon transport speed. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer apparatus comprising: means; and means for changing a feeding amount of the paper when the paper is supplied to the printing unit in accordance with the conveyance speed of the ink ribbon.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer device that can maintain the print start position with high accuracy regardless of the amount of ink ribbon used without any restriction on the paper to be used.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a printer apparatus according to the present embodiment.
The printer apparatus includes a take-up reel 1, a feed reel 2, a rotary encoder 5, a control unit 6, a motor 7, transmission mechanisms 8 and 9, a paper roll 10, and a paper transport roller 11.
The take-up reel 1 is a reel that takes up the used ink ribbon 3, and rotates when the driving force of the motor 7 is transmitted through the speed change mechanism 9. The feed reel 2 is a reel around which an unused ink ribbon 3 is wound, and is driven to rotate when the ink ribbon 3 is wound around the take-up reel 1. The rotary encoder 5 is a sensor that detects the rotational speed of the feed reel 2. The control unit 6 controls the motor 7 and the transmission mechanisms 8 and 9 according to the detection result of the rotary encoder 5 to adjust the rotation speed of each of the take-up reel 1 and the paper transport roller 11. The motor 7 generates a rotational driving force and transmits it to the speed change mechanisms 8 and 9. The speed change mechanisms 8 and 9 convert the rotational speed of the rotational driving force transmitted from the motor 7. The paper roll 10 is a roll-shaped paper, and the paper 4 is transported by a paper transport roller (platen) 11. The thermal head 12 forms a printing portion together with the paper transport roller 11, applies heat to the ink ribbon 3 and the paper 4 sandwiched between the paper transport roller 11 and transfers the ink contained in the ink ribbon 3. To print characters on the paper 4.

  FIG. 1 shows a state where the ink ribbon 3 has just begun to be used, and most of the ink ribbon 3 is wound around the feed reel 2. For this reason, the winding diameter in the winding reel 1 is small.

  On the other hand, FIG. 2 shows a state immediately before the use of the ink ribbon 3, and most of the ink ribbon 3 is wound around the take-up roller 1. For this reason, the take-up diameter in the take-up reel 1 is larger than that in the initial use state.

  When the winding diameter is increased, the speed at which the ink ribbon 3 is wound around the winding roller 1, that is, the transport speed of the ink ribbon 3 is increased. Then, the speed at which the ink ribbon 3 is fed out from the feed reel 2 is also increased, and the rotation speed of the feed reel 2 is increased.

  A change in the rotation speed of the feed reel 2 is detected by the rotary encoder 5 and notified to the control unit 6. The control unit 6 that has received the detection result that the rotation speed of the feed reel 2 has increased from the rotary encoder 5 controls the speed change mechanism 9 to reduce the rotation amount of the paper transport roller 11 at the start of printing. Thereby, the movement amount of the paper 4 sent out from the paper roll 10 at the start of printing is reduced.

  As the transport speed of the ink ribbon 3 increases, the amount of movement of the paper 4 caused by being dragged by the ink ribbon 3 increases, but the amount of movement of the paper 4 by the paper transport roller 11 at the start of printing decreases. The increase or decrease in the movement amount of the paper 4 is offset as a whole. Therefore, the print start position can be maintained with high accuracy regardless of the amount of ink ribbon used.

Detection of the rotation speed of the feed reel 2 by the rotary encoder 5 is performed during normal continuous printing operation. This is because even if an attempt is made to detect the rotational speed of the feed reel 2 at the timing when the paper 4 is conveyed to the print start position, the rotational amount of the feed reel 2 is too small to accurately detect the rotational speed of the feed reel 2. is there.
That is, at the start of printing, it is preferable to change the transport amount of the paper 4 to the printing start position based on the rotation speed of the feed reel 2 detected at the time of the previous printing operation.

  In the above control, it is not necessary to provide marks on the paper 4 in advance.

  As described above, the printer device according to the present embodiment can maintain the print start position with high accuracy regardless of the amount of ink ribbon used, without any restriction on the paper to be used.

In addition, the said embodiment is an example of suitable implementation of this invention, and this invention is not limited to this.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the rotary speed of the feed reel is detected by the rotary encoder to measure the ink ribbon conveyance speed is shown. However, the winding diameter is optically detected in the vicinity of the take-up reel. It is also possible to provide a sensor for detecting the ink ribbon conveyance speed based on the winding diameter.
Further, the take-up reel and the paper transport roller may be driven by separate drive sources as long as the ink ribbon transport speed and the paper feed amount can be controlled independently.
As described above, the present invention can be variously modified.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a sheet supplied to a predetermined position of a printing unit at the start of printing is dragged along with conveyance of an ink ribbon.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Take-up reel 2 Feed reel 3 Ink ribbon 4 Paper 5 Rotary encoder 6 Control part 7 Motor 8, 9 Speed change mechanism 10 Paper roll 11 Paper conveyance roller (platen)
12 Thermal head

Claims (4)

An ink ribbon that is wound from a feeding reel to a winding reel is a printer device that is supplied to a printing unit together with paper,
Means for detecting the transport speed of the ink ribbon;
And a means for changing a feeding amount of the paper when the paper is supplied to the printing unit in accordance with a conveyance speed of the ink ribbon.   2. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein power is supplied to the take-up reel from a drive source common to the paper transport mechanism.   3. The printer apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting a transport speed of the ink ribbon by detecting a rotation speed of the feed reel with an encoder installed on the feed reel. 4.   4. The feed amount of the paper when the paper is supplied to the printing unit is changed according to the conveyance speed of the ink ribbon detected at the time of the previous printing. 5. The printer device according to the item.

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