JPH09300599A - Printing method for recording medium received in casing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing system capable of readily performing printing of a caption and the like on a surface of a recording medium, such as CD-R or the like, received in a casing. SOLUTION: A printing system 1 is such that a casing 2a receiving therein a recording medium 2 prior to printing is fed to a cover opening station 20 and a cover 2b is opened. The recording medium 2 is taken out of the casing 2a with its cover opened, by a medium transfer tool 81A to be conveyed to a drive 40 where information is written on the recording medium. Then the recording medium is fed to an ink jet printer 30 where a caption and the like are printed on a surface of the recording medium 2. The recording medium 2A having been printed is returned to a return station 50 by a medium transfer tool 81B to be received in the casing 2a which is standby at the station and the cover of which is opened. The casing 2a is fed through a cover closing station 60, and after the cover is closed, the casing 2a is recovered at a medium recovery station 70. Thus, it is possible to automatically perform printing on the recording medium 2 received in the casing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surface of a compact disc itself, a surface of a case thereof, a surface of a case of a plate-shaped recording medium such as a floppy disk (hereinafter, these are collectively referred to simply as "recording medium"). Heading), a print method of a recording medium suitable for printing information about recorded contents, barcodes, images and the like.

[0002]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Recording medium, eg CD
-R, etc. is a medium on which the user can freely record, and the surface of the medium has already been printed with another method such as company name, product name, etc. that do not need to be changed for each data record. There is, but it can be added, and has a large storage capacity. For this reason, it is convenient to print the title or the like directly on the surface of the case or the surface of the CD-R for the contents recorded therein.

[0003] In the case of such new prints, computer software, and the like, which are recorded and known in a large amount and have been recorded in advance, such printing may be performed by the manufacturer in advance.
However, it would be convenient if the user could print desired data contents, images, and other information with a simple operation. In view of this point, the present applicant previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 7-251.
In the specification and drawings of Japanese Patent No. 713, a printing method and apparatus capable of easily printing a headline or the like on the surface of a recording medium such as a CD-R or the surface of its case is proposed.

Here, in many cases, such a recording medium is generally in a case. In this case, in order to print on the surface of the recording medium, it is necessary to open the case for each sheet and take out the recording medium.

An object of the present invention is to propose a printing method for taking out a case-containing recording medium from a case and performing printing.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, in the printing method for printing a caption or the like on the surface of a recording medium such as a compact disc using an ink jet printer, the following steps After that, the recording medium in the case is printed.

(1) A lid opening step for receiving a case-containing recording medium housed in an openable / closable case and opening the lid so that the recording medium can be taken out of the case. (2) Recording medium from the case with the lid open. (3) A printing step of printing on a recording medium by the inkjet printer (4) A returning step of returning the recording medium after printing to the case with the lid open. , Lid Closing Step of Closing Lid of Case Having Printed Recording Medium Stored In this way, according to the printing method of the present invention, the recording medium is taken out from the case and printing is performed. The recording medium after printing is stored in the case again. Therefore, the troublesome work of manually removing the case-containing recording mediums one by one from the case, performing printing, and then manually inserting the recording mediums into the case again becomes unnecessary.

Here, as the ink jet printer, a printer having a print head and a medium tray for transporting a recording medium via a printing position of the print head can be adopted.

Further, in the lid opening step, a lid opening mechanism having a case main body fixing base for fixing the case main body of the recording medium contained in the case and a turning claw capable of being engaged with the end surface of the case lid on the opening / closing side is used. Can be realized.

Further, the supplying step and the returning step can be realized by using a medium transfer tool utilizing an air suction force. The medium transfer tool includes a blower, an opening / closing lid attached to the blower port of the blower, and a medium suction surface formed on the air suction port of the blower, and according to the opening / closing of the opening / closing lid, suction of the recording medium, It is possible to adopt a structure in which the adsorbed recording medium is opened. Furthermore, it is desirable to employ a mechanism that removes the medium fixed to the case from the case, and conversely, a mechanism that fixes the medium to the case. As such a mechanism, a protrusion may be formed in the central portion of the medium suction surface so that the central portion of the case can be pressed by the protrusion when the medium is sucked. Similarly, when the medium is attached to the case, the medium can be fixed to the case by mounting the medium on the case while pressing the central portion of the case with the protrusion and then retracting the protrusion. .

In addition to the above steps, the method of the present invention preferably includes (5) a writing step of writing at least information on the recording medium prior to the printing step. Reading may be performed together with writing. By adding this step, printing corresponding to the writing information can be performed in conjunction with the writing operation, which is convenient.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A case CD-R printing system to which the method of the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Overall Configuration) FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a CD-R printing system to which the present invention is applied. As shown in this figure, in the printing system 1, the following parts are arranged on the device base 1a.

A supply station 10 for supplying a case-containing CD-R (hereinafter simply referred to as a case-containing recording medium) 2 before printing. The case-containing recording medium 2 is opened to open only the recording medium 2. Station 20 Printing station 30 that prints on the surface of recording medium 2 Writing station 40 that writes and reads information on recording medium 2 Return station 50 that returns recording medium 2 after printing to the case with the lid open A lid closing station 60 for closing the lid of the case from which the latter recording medium 2 is collected. A collecting station 70 for collecting the case-containing recording medium 2 after printing. Further, the recording medium 2 is placed between the stations by using air suction force. A medium carrying mechanism 80 for carrying is provided. The medium transport mechanism 80 is a mechanism for removing the medium fixed to the case and mounting the medium therein, and a medium transport tool 81 for sucking and transporting the recording medium 2 by utilizing the air suction force.
A and 81B, and rails 82A and 82B that define movement paths of the medium transfer tools 81A and 81B.

The recording medium 2 is conveyed through each station as follows. First, it is supplied from the supply station 10 to the lid opening station 20. Next, the lid 2b of the case 2a is opened at the lid opening station 20, and only the recording medium 2 is transferred from the inside of the case to the medium transfer tool 8 of the medium transfer mechanism 80.
It is sucked by 1A and conveyed to the writing station 40. After the information is written in the writing / reading station 40, the medium transfer tool 81
Is conveyed to the printing station 30. The printing station 30 is configured to include an inkjet printer 31 and a medium tray 32. The recording medium 2 is conveyed by the medium tray 32 and printing is performed on the surface of the recording medium. Printed recording medium 2A after printing
Is sucked by the medium transfer tool 81B and conveyed to the return station 50. At the lid closing station 60, the case 2a with the lid open is being conveyed, and the recorded recording medium 2A is stored in the case 2a. Next, in the lid closing station 60, the case 2a
The lid 2b is closed. Thereafter, the case-printed recording medium 2A is collected at the collecting station 70.

(Structure of Each Part) FIGS. 2A and 2B show the structures of the parts of the supply station 10 and the lid opening station 20. The supply station 10 directs the stacker 11 in which the case-containing recording media 2 are stacked vertically and the case-containing recording medium 2-1 located at the bottom end of the stacker 11 to the lid opening station 20. It is provided with a sending mechanism 12 for sending out. The feeding mechanism 12 includes a pushing head 14 that can reciprocate in the horizontal direction along the horizontal guide shaft 13, and a moving mechanism (not shown) that moves the head 14. As the moving mechanism, a known mechanism for converting the motor rotating force into a linear moving motion can be adopted.

A cam pin 16 is attached to the lower end of the head 14, and the cam surface 17 on which the cam pin 16 slides is, as shown in FIG. 2B, a cam surface 17a which is at a high position during the feeding operation. The cam pin 16 slides
During the returning operation, the cam pin 16 slides on the cam surface 17b at the lower position.

Therefore, the width of the head 14 is set to the stacker 1
If it is made narrower than the bottom width of the recording medium 1, the recording medium 2-1 with the case supported by the lower ends of both side walls thereof is delivered toward the lid opening station 2 by hitting the head 14 when the head 14 is delivered. Be done. However, when the head 14 returns, the head 14 returns to the height position lowered by one step, and therefore the lower side of the stacker 11 returns to the initial position without hitting the case-containing recording medium 2-2 located at the lower end. In this way, by reciprocally moving the head 14, the case-containing recording media 2 located at the lower end of the stacker 11 can be delivered one by one.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), the lid opening station 20 holds the case body 2 a of the case-containing recording medium 2 sent by the head 14 with the head 14. A fixed base 21 is provided. In addition, the case 2 fixed to the case fixing base 21
The swivel arm 23 is provided with an engaging claw 22 that engages with the end surface of the lid 2b on the open / close side. When the case 2a is fixed to the case fixing base 21, when the turning arm 23 in which the engaging claw 22 is engaged with the end surface of the lid 2b is turned upward, the lid 2b is also turned and opened. The lid 2b is held by the holding bar 24 in an open state at an angle of 90 degrees or more.

The case 2a with the lid 2b opened in this way
From the above, the recording medium 2 before printing is sucked and taken out by the medium transfer tool 81A.

FIG. 3 shows the structure of the medium transfer tool 81A. The other transfer tool 81B has the same structure. The medium transfer tool 81A is configured by using a generally used blower (blower). That is, the medium transfer tool 81A includes the blower body 8 having the propeller built therein.
3 and the air suction port 84 opened in the casing,
Similarly, the casing is provided with a blower opening 85 opened.

A cylindrical tube 86 is attached to the air suction port 84. A perforated rotary plate 87 is coaxially arranged at the circular opening end of the cylinder 86. The rotary plate 87 is connected to an output shaft of a motor 88 arranged inside the cylinder 86. Further, an optical sensor 89 is attached to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 86 at a position movable from the outer peripheral edge of the rotary plate 87 toward the inner peripheral edge. The optical sensor 89 detects the recording medium 2 adsorbed on the rotary plate 87 by equivalently providing a gap between the outer peripheral edge of the rotary plate 87 and the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 86 or a transparent rotary plate.

Further, a holding motor 88A and a holding motor holding plate 89A are provided. When the holding motor 88A rotates, the cam 88a connected to the holding motor 88A rotates, and the holding motor fixing plate 88A is pushed down. As a result, the rotary plate 87 connected to the rotary motor 88 and the protrusion 87a provided at the center of the rotary plate 87.
Is pushed down. The protrusion 87 pushes the medium fixing clamper at the center of the case from above, so that the medium fixed to the case can be removed from the case. Alternatively, it can be fixed to the case. As described above, the medium transfer tool 81 of the present example also includes a mechanism for removing the medium from the case or mounting the medium.

On the other hand, an opening / closing lid 85a for opening and closing the blower opening 85 is attached. In the state where the opening / closing lid 85a is opened, the medium transfer tool 81A functions so that the air sucked from the air suction port 84 is blown by the blower port 8
Exhaled from 5. Therefore, if the rotary plate 87 attached to the air intake port 84 of the medium transfer tool 81A is brought into contact with or close to the surface of the recording medium 2 and the clamper in the center of the case is pushed by the protrusion 87a, the recording medium is sucked by the air. 2 is adsorbed on the rotary plate 87. On the other hand, if the blower opening 85 is closed by the opening / closing lid 85a, the air suction operation is blocked, so that the recording medium 2 adsorbed by the rotary plate 87 falls from there.

Therefore, the medium transfer tool 81A of this construction
May be moved along a predetermined transport path (indicated by a thick line in FIG. 1) so that the recording medium 2 and the rotary plate 87 face each other in a coaxial state at each position.

Here, in the present example, the medium transfer tool 81A is provided with the sensor 89 as described above. An index detected by this sensor is formed on each recording medium 2. That is, one index 2f for alignment is formed in the circumferential direction on the circumference of the recording medium 2 from the outer peripheral edge to the inner peripheral edge (see FIG. 4). This index may be printed or may be formed by cutting out a part of the recording medium 2. In any case, the position of the index 2f in the radial direction is the sensor 8
9 is set so that the position can be detected.

The medium transfer tool 81A is, for example, the drive 4
After receiving the recording medium 2 from 1, the motor 88 is driven to rotate the rotary plate 87 on which the recording medium 2 is attracted, and the index 2f attached to the recording medium 2 is searched.
The rotary plate 87 is stopped at the rotational position where this index is detected by the sensor 89. If the recording medium 2 is placed on the medium tray 32 in this state, the recording medium 2 can always be placed on the medium tray 32 in the same direction.

Next, the printing station 30 will be described. An inkjet printer 31 is arranged in the printing station 30. The recording medium 2 is conveyed by the reciprocating medium tray 32 via the printing position of the print head 33 of the inkjet printer 31, and the surface thereof is printed. As the printer 31, a commonly used inkjet printer can be adopted as it is. Therefore, in this specification, detailed description of the configuration of the printer itself is omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1A, one side of the ink jet printer 31 is a medium supply side, and a reciprocating medium tray 32 (shown by a solid line 32A in the figure) installed there is recorded before printing. Place the medium 2 and print head 3
It is conveyed via the printing position according to 3. Print head 33
The reciprocating medium tray 32 on which the recording medium 2A printed by
1 is discharged to the other side (indicated by phantom line 32B in the figure). The reciprocating medium tray 32 returns to the supply side after moving to the discharge side. After that, a new recording medium 2 is loaded and the above operation is repeated.

4A and 4B, the reciprocating medium tray 3 is shown.
2 is shown. As shown in this figure, the reciprocating medium tray 32 has a tray main body 32a made of a thin rectangular plate, a shallow circular groove 32b formed at an appropriate position on the surface thereof, and a circular shape formed at the center of the circular groove 32b. The convex portion 32c is provided. The circular groove 32b is a mounting portion of the recording medium 2, and its inner diameter is set to be slightly larger than the diameter of the recording medium 2. The convex portion 32c of the central portion is set to have a size to fit into the central hole of the recording medium 2. Although the tray 32 of this example has a two-layer structure, it may of course be integrally formed of synthetic resin or the like.

Next, a returning station 50 for returning the printed recording medium 2A to the case 2a with the lid 2b opened, and a lid 2b for the case 2a to which the printed recording medium 2A has been returned.
The lid closing station 60 for closing will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, in the return station 50, the lid 2b is opened at the lid opening station 20, and the case 2a, which is emptied by taking out the recording medium 2 from the lid 2b, is conveyed as it is. . The printed recording medium 2A is conveyed by the medium transfer tool 81 having the above-described configuration and is stored in the case 2a immediately above the case 2a which is on standby with the lid 2b open.

After that, as shown in FIG. 2C, the case 2a is horizontally conveyed to the collecting station 70 via the lid closing station 60 by a feeding mechanism (not shown). In the lid closing station 60, roller pairs 61 and 62 are arranged in the case transport direction. By being inserted into these roller pairs 61 and 62, the lid 2b in the opened state is covered with the case 2a and returned to the closed state. While closing the lid like this, the case 2a
Are sent to the collection station 70.

The collecting station 70 is a stacker 71 for collecting the printed recording media 2A in a vertically stacked state.
And the lifting plate 72 that defines the bottom surface, and the lifting plate 72
An elevating mechanism 73 for elevating and lowering is provided. Lifting mechanism 73
Can rotate the lever 72 having a roller at the tip of the shaft of the gear motor to push up the lifting plate 72.

On the inner surfaces of both sides of the stacker 71 facing each other, claws 74, 75 projecting inward are arranged. These claws 74 and 75 are capable of swiveling between a state in which the upper part thereof protrudes inward with the lower end thereof as a center and a state in which the claws 74 and 75 are completely retracted outward. In addition, each claw 74,
The spring 75 is urged from the back side by springs 76 and 77 in a direction in which it projects. When the claws 74 and 75 are in a protruding state, the upper sides of the claws 74 and 75 are substantially horizontal, and the medium supporting surfaces 74a and 7a.
5a, and the lower part thereof is inclined surfaces 74b and 75b that are inclined inward as it goes upward.

Case 2 containing printed recording medium 2A
The sheet a is conveyed to a position right below the stacker 71 by the pair of rollers 61 and 62. When the case 2a reaches this position, the elevating mechanism 73 is driven and the elevating plate 72 moves upward. The case 2 a is lifted by the lifting plate 72.
Here, the claws 74 and 75 are projected on the inner surface of the stacker, but when the case 2a is also forced up along the lower inclined surfaces 74b and 75b, the claws 74 and 55 are springs 76 and 77. Pull outwards against the spring force of. When the case 2a goes over the claws and lifts up, the elevating plate 72 descends. However, the case 2a has the medium support surface 74 on the upper side of the pair of claws 74, 75 protruding inward.
a, 75a. The cases 2a in which the printed recording media 2A are stored are sequentially stacked in the stacker 71 from the lower side.

In this example, a defective product collecting station 90 for collecting the defective recording medium is installed at a position adjacent to the collecting station 70.

(Other Embodiments) It should be noted that the medium transfer tool 81 does not employ the suction transfer type as in the present embodiment.
It is also possible to employ another transfer tool, for example, a mechanism that moves the recording medium 2 by sandwiching it from above and below. Alternatively, a mechanism that inserts an openable / closable claw or the like into the hole in the center of the medium and a mechanism that performs phase sandwiching the outer periphery of the medium may be employed.

Further, the printing system 1 is provided with the drive 41, but the drive 41 is not required when only printing is performed on the surface of the recording medium 2 without writing information to the recording medium 2. .

Similarly, the defective product collecting station 90 also
It does not need to be installed if the defective product is manually eliminated or if the drive is not provided.

Further, the supply station 10 and the recovery station 70 can be omitted.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
To open a case in which a recording medium such as a CD-R is stored, perform printing on the recording medium stored therein, and then automatically perform a series of operations to store the printed recording medium in the case. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a printing system of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is an explanatory diagram showing a movement path of a recording medium or the like.

2A is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a supply station and a lid opening station in the system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram showing a cam surface of the supply station;
FIG. 6C is a schematic configuration diagram showing parts of a returning station, a lid closing station, and a collecting station.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a medium transfer tool and a bottom view thereof.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view and a sectional view showing a reciprocating medium tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printing System 2 Recording Medium Before Printing 2A Printed Recording Medium 2a Case 2b Lid 10 Supply Station 20 Lid Opening Station 30 Printing Station 31 Inkjet Printer 32 Reciprocating Media Tray 40 Writing Station 50 Return Station 60 Lid Closing Station 70 Collection Station 80 Media Transfer Mechanism 81 Medium transfer device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A printing method for printing a caption or the like on the surface of a recording medium such as a compact disc using an inkjet printer, which receives a case-containing recording medium housed in a case with an openable / closable lid. Opening the lid to open the recording medium from the case, feeding the recording medium from the case with the lid open and supplying it to the printing position by the inkjet printer, and printing the recording medium by the inkjet printer A case including a printing step, a returning step of returning the printed recording medium to the case with the lid opened, and a lid closing step of closing the lid of the case containing the printed recording medium Printing method of recording medium. 2. The case-containing recording according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet printer has a print head and a medium tray for transporting a recording medium via a print position of the print head. Media printing method. 3. The cover opening step according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a case main body fixing base for fixing the case main body of the recording medium in the case, and a turning claw capable of being engaged with the end surface of the cover of the case on the opening / closing side. A method for printing a recording medium in a case, which is performed by using a lid opening mechanism provided with. 4. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the supplying step and the returning step are performed by using a medium transfer tool using an air suction force, and the medium transfer tool is a blower and a blower of the blower. A printing method for a recording medium in a case, comprising: an opening / closing lid attached to a blower port; and a medium suction surface formed on an air suction port of the blower. 5. The medium transfer tool according to claim 4,
The method for printing a recording medium in a case further comprising a movable protrusion arranged in the center of the medium suction surface. 6. The case according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a writing step of writing at least information on a recording medium prior to the printing step. Printing method of recording medium.