JPH05201095A - Impact printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To insert a cutform smoothly between a print head and a platen by a method wherein a paper sensor is provided near an opening for inserting the cutform therethrough and, when the paper sensor detects any cutform to be inserted, gap between the print head and the platen is automatically enlarged. CONSTITUTION:Preset first papers 3 and 4 are fed between a print head 8 and a platen 5 in order to print data thereon and a second paper 12 is fed therebetween from outside in order to print data thereon. During this time, an insertion detecting means 14 detects the second paper 12 to be inserted between the print head 8 and the platen 5 from outside. A gap enlarging means consisting of CPU 22, a head driver 27, a carrier motor driver 28, etc., automatically enlarges the gap between the print head 8 and the platen 5 when the detecting means 14 detects the second paper 12 to be inserted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an impact printer used as a receipt / journal printer of an electronic cash register or a POS (point of sale) terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, an electronic cash register or a PO
The receipt / journal printer of the S (point of sale information management) terminal generally stores rolls of receipt paper and journal paper respectively inside the printer.
Then, each sheet is pulled out from the front end of the roll and passed between the print head and the platen, and the receipt data and the journal data are printed by the print head. Further, the printed receipt paper is cut by a cutter and then issued from the receipt issuing port, and the journal paper is wound inside.

In such a receipt / journal printer, a single-cut sheet such as a credit slip can be externally inserted between the print head and the platen, and the credit slip can be inserted between the print head and the platen when a credit transaction occurs. There is one in which a slip is inserted and the slip is printed by the print head.

In this type of receipt / journal printer, however, the gap between the print head and the platen is usually narrow so that receipt and journal printing can be performed. could not. For this reason, conventionally, a declarative key for declaring the insertion of cut sheets is provided, and if the declaration key is operated by a key, the gap between the print head and the platen is widened so that the cut sheets can be easily inserted. It was

[0005]

However, conventionally, a predetermined declarative key has to be operated by a key every time it is necessary to insert a single-cut sheet from the outside, which is complicated and the workability is poor.

Therefore, according to the present invention, usually, a preset first paper is sent between the print head and the platen for data printing, and a second paper is externally provided between the print head and the platen. When it is inserted, the data can be printed on the second paper, and when the second paper is inserted between the print head and the platen, smooth operation is not required. It is intended to provide an impact printer that can be inserted into a printer and has excellent workability.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a first paper set in advance is fed between a print head and a platen to print data, and a second paper is externally provided between the print head and the platen. When a sheet of paper is inserted, the second sheet of data is printed on the second sheet.
Insertion predicting means for predicting the external insertion of the sheet of paper between the print head and the platen, and the gap between the print head and the platen is automatically detected when the insertion of the second sheet is predicted by the predicting means. And a gap expanding means for expanding to.

[0008]

In the present invention having such a structure, the first paper, which is set in advance, is normally fed between the print head and the platen, and the print head prints data on the first paper on the platen. Is done. When a second sheet is inserted from the outside between the print head and the platen, the print head prints data on the second sheet on the platen.

Here, when the second sheet is to be inserted from the outside, the insertion predicting means predicts the insertion of the second sheet. Then, the gap between the print head and the platen is automatically expanded, so that the second sheet can be smoothly inserted from the outside.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a receipt / journal printer (hereinafter abbreviated as RJ printer) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external main part of the RJ printer, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing an internal structure main part of the RJ printer. The head cover 2 is placed and configured.

The printer body 1 includes a receipt paper 3
A roll of journal paper 4 (first paper) is stored. The leading ends of the rolls of the sheets 3 and 4 are pulled out from the storage portion by a feed mechanism (not shown),
It is wound on the platen 5 fixed so that its top is located on the same plane as the upper surface of the platen. Then, the receipt paper 2 is cut by a cutter and then issued from a receipt issuing port 6 formed on the upper surface of the printer body 1, and the journal paper 3 is adjacent to the receipt issuing port 6 and a journal monitoring window 7 is provided.
After passing below, the paper is taken up by a take-up roller provided inside the printer body 1.

The head cover 2 is provided so as to cover a print head 8 for an impact printer. The print head 8 is a carrier 1 mounted on a guide shaft 9.
0 mounted on the platen 5 and positioned above the platen 5,
Data is printed on the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4 by reciprocating in the axial direction of the guide shaft 9 together with the carrier 10.

The guide shaft 9 is attached so as to be movable in the vertical direction (arrow A in FIG. 2) by the operation of the head gap magnet 11, and the print head 8 and the platen 5 are moved by raising and lowering the guide shaft 9. Gap g with
Can be changed.

On one side where the printer body 1 and the head cover 2 are in contact with each other, a credit slip (second paper) which is a single-cut sheet is
Paper) 12 is formed. An optical paper sensor 14, for example, which detects that the credit slip 12 is inserted from the slip insertion opening 13 is attached to the printer cover 2 side of the slip insertion opening 13. The credit slip 12 inserted from the slip insertion slot 13 is sent between the platen 5 and the print head 8 by a feed mechanism (not shown), the slip is printed by the print head, and then the credit slip 12 is ejected again from the insertion slot 13. It is supposed to be done.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control circuit in the RJ printer. In the figure, 21 is an interface for receiving print data transmitted from an electronic cash register or a POS terminal, 2
2 is a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes the main body of the control unit, 2
Reference numeral 3 denotes a ROM (read only memory) in which program data for the CPU 22 to control each unit is stored, and 24 denotes a RAM (random access memory) for temporarily storing the print data received by the interface 21. , 25 are I / O ports for inputting and outputting various signals. The interface 21, CPU 22, ROM 2
3, the RAM 24 and the I / O port 25 are connected to each other by a bus line 26.

Signals from various sensors including the paper sensor 14 are input to the I / O port 25. Further, a head driver 27 that drives the head pins of the print head 8, a driver 28 of a carrier motor that reciprocates the carrier 10, an RJ feed motor driver 29 that drives a feed mechanism of the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4, A driver 30 of a voucher feed motor that drives the feed mechanism of the credit voucher 12 inserted from the voucher insertion slot 13, the head gap magnet 31, the stamp magnet 32 that operates the stamp imprinted on the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4, A drive signal is output to each of the cutter magnets 33 and the like that operate a cutter that cuts the receipt paper.

Therefore, the CPU 21 is programmed so as to execute the control shown in FIG. That is, the print data received via the interface 21 as ST (step) 1 is stored in the RAM 24, and when the printing of the print data is instructed, the drive of the head driver 27 and the carrier motor driver 28 is controlled. Then, the data is printed by the print head 8.
In this case, in the case of receipt and journal printing, the drive of the RJ feed motor driver 29 is controlled to feed the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4 respectively, and data is printed on the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4. .. In the case of printing a slip, the drive of the slip feed motor driver 30 is controlled to feed the credit slip 12 inserted from the slip insertion slot 13 to print data on the credit slip 12.

When printing is completed, it is determined whether the head gap magnet 31 is on. If it is off, the process returns to ST1. If it is on, it is turned off, and the process returns to ST1. ST
If there is no print data print command in 1, the input signal from the paper sensor 14 is checked in ST2. (Insertion prediction means)

When the output of the sensor 14 changes from the non-detection state to the detection state of the credit slip 2, the credit slip 12 is predicted to be inserted between the print head 8 and the platen 5 through the slip insertion slot 13. The head gap magnet 31 is turned on to automatically expand the gap between the print head 8 and the platen 5. (Gap expanding means) Then, the process returns to ST1.

In the present embodiment having such a configuration, the receipt paper 3 is usually provided between the print head 8 and the platen 5.
Then, the journal paper 4 is fed, and the receipt data and the journal data are printed on the receipt paper 3 and the journal paper 4 by the print head 8 on the platen 5. The printed receipt paper 3 is cut by a cutter and then issued from the receipt issuing port 6, and the journal paper 4 is wound inside the printer.

On the other hand, when a credit transaction occurs, it is necessary to print transaction data on a predetermined credit slip 12. In this case, the operator of the electronic cash register or POS terminal must pay the credit slip 12
Is properly inserted from the slip insertion slot 13. At this time, when the paper sensor 14 detects the leading end of the credit slip 12, the head gap magnet 31 is turned on, and the print head 8 moves up together with the guide shaft 9, and the print head 8 moves.
The gab g between the platen 5 and the platen 5 is expanded.

Therefore, since the gap g between the print head 8 and the platen 5 is automatically expanded by simply inserting the credit slip 12, the credit slip 12 can be inserted into the print head 8 and the platen 5 without any complicated key operation. 5
Can be inserted smoothly between and.

When the credit slip 12 is thus inserted, the credit transaction data is printed on the credit slip 12 by the print head 8. After the data is printed, the head gap magnet 31 is turned off and the print head 8
Moves down together with the guide shaft 9 and the gap g between the print head 8 and the platen 5 returns to the normal state.

In the above embodiment, the credit slip 12
When the insertion of the print head is predicted, the print head 8 is lifted to expand the gap g between the print head 8 and the platen 5, but when the top of the platen 5 is projected from the upper surface of the printer body 1, the position of the print head 8 is Leave as it is, platen 5
May be lowered to expand the gap g.

Further, in the above embodiment, the credit slip 12
Although the output signal of the optical paper sensor 14 is used as a means for predicting that the paper will be inserted from the slip insertion slot 13, it goes without saying that the type of sensor, the mounting position, etc. are not limited to the above embodiment. Is.

Further, although the receipt / journal printer of the serial printing system has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the first paper set in advance between the print head and the platen is used. In the case of an impact printer that sends data for printing and also prints data on the second sheet when the second sheet is inserted from the outside between the print head and the platen, a line printing method may be used. It can be applied to other printers. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0028]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, normally, the preset first paper is sent between the print head and the platen for data printing, and the print head and the platen are externally supplied. When the second sheet is inserted between the first sheet and the second sheet, data can be printed on the second sheet, and it is predicted that the second sheet is inserted between the print head and the platen. Since the gap between the print head and the platen is automatically expanded when a prediction is made, the second sheet is placed between the print head and the platen without any special operation. It is possible to provide an impact printer that can be smoothly inserted and can improve workability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a main part of an internal structure of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main part control circuit of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the main processing of the CPU in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Printer body, 3, 4 ... Receipt paper and journal paper (first paper), 5 ... Platen, 8 ... Print head, 11 ... Head gap magnet, 12 ... Credit slip (second paper), 14 ... Paper Sensor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first paper set in advance is fed between a print head and a platen to print data, and a second paper is externally provided between the print head and the platen.
Insertion predicting means for predicting that the second sheet is externally inserted between the print head and the platen in an impact printer that prints data on the second sheet when the second sheet is inserted. An impact printer comprising: a gap expanding unit that automatically expands the gap between the print head and the platen when the insertion of the second sheet is predicted by the predicting unit.