Recording apparatus

Abstract

To detect a printing area even in a recording medium of a color label.SOLUTION: A recording apparatus includes light emitting means for irradiating a recording medium with light, first light receiving means constituted of a plurality of light receiving elements for detecting diffused reflection light from the recording medium, and detecting means for detecting a printable area of the recording medium from a detection result of the diffused reflection light of the first light receiving means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recording device. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses that a reflective sensor is used to determine whether the disc is on the printing side or the data recording side based on a predetermined threshold value for the waveform detected by the optical sensor. Patent Document 1 also discloses that the presence or absence of a discrimination mark provided outside the printing area on the disc surface is detected to determine whether the disc is printable. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-25906 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the printing area of ​​label-printable disk media may be colored, not just white. Therefore, when attempting to determine the printed surface based on the waveform detected by a reflective sensor using a predetermined threshold, the amount of reflected light may be small depending on the background color of the color label, making it impossible to detect.

[0005] The present embodiment aims to detect the print area even on a color label recording medium. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention is characterized by having a light emitting means for irradiating light onto a recording medium, a first light receiving means consisting of a plurality of light receiving elements for detecting the diffusely reflected light from the recording medium, and a detection means for detecting a printable area of ​​the recording medium from the detection result of the diffusely reflected light of the first light receiving means. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The print area can also be detected on color label recording media. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing sensor positions in the first embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a light receiving element of a detection sensor. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of selection of a light receiving element. [Figure 4] FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a disc transport tray. [Figure 6] FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting a position marker of a disc tray. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the position of a detection sensor and the detection scanning direction of a disk. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting an unattached disk. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a first waveform for detecting a printed area on a disc. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a second waveform for detecting a printed area of ​​a disc. [Figure 12] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting a mis-mounted disk. [Figure 13] 1 is an operation flow of the first embodiment. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a card transport tray. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting a print area of ​​a card. [Figure 16] 10 is an operation flow of the second embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multifunction printer according to an embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting a card tray position marker. [Figure 19]10 is a diagram showing the position of a detection sensor and the detection scanning direction of a card. FIG. [Figure 20] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing waveforms for detecting an uninserted card. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] (First embodiment) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing the arrangement of sensors and the path of light reflected from a recording medium in the first embodiment.

[0010] A carriage unit 100 that houses the ink cartridges is equipped with a sensor unit 101 that is made up of a multi-sensor 102 that is made up of a plurality of light receiving elements and a light emitting element 103 that is made up of an LED, and a print head 104.

[0011] Light emitted from light emitting element 103 passes through aperture 107 facing recording medium 105 and is irradiated onto recording medium 105, and specularly reflected light 110 is received by multi-sensor 102 through aperture 106.

[0012] Meanwhile, the light passes through an aperture 109 facing the recording medium 105 and is irradiated onto the recording medium 105, and the diffusely reflected light 111 is received by a multi-sensor 102 through an aperture 108. After detecting the reflected light while conveying the disc to the right in the illustrated disc conveyance direction Y, printing is performed while conveying the disc to the left.

[0013] FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the light receiving elements of the multi-sensor 102 and the relationship between the print scanning direction X of the carriage unit 100 and the conveying direction Y of the recording medium.

[0014] The multi-sensor 102 is configured with four photodiode (PD) arrays, each of which has 16 light receiving elements 201 arranged in one row, for a total of 64 light receiving elements (photodiodes).

[0015] FIG. 3 shows an example of a selection pattern of the light receiving elements (photodiodes) of the multi-sensor 102 when detecting specularly reflected light and diffusely reflected light from the recording medium 105.

[0016] In this embodiment, an example is shown in which two light receiving elements 301 on the ejection side in the disc transport direction Y are selected for specular reflection light, and two light receiving elements 302 on the carriage side are selected for diffuse reflection light.

[0017] The combination of the selected positions and the selected number of light receiving elements can be changed depending on the orientation of the multi-sensor 102 and the relative positions of the recording medium and aperture, and is selected so as to receive the optimum amount of reflected light.

[0018] The position detection circuit is shown in Figure 4.

[0019] The light receiving elements 301 / 302 are selected by a selector 401 under the control of the CPU.

[0020] When specularly reflected light from the recording medium is input to the selected light receiving element 301, a photocurrent Id flows, which is converted into a voltage value by the photoelectric conversion circuit 402 and input to the operational amplifier 404, which outputs a detection waveform VoutA.

[0021] When diffusely reflected light from the recording medium is input to the selected light receiving element 302, a photocurrent Id' flows, which is converted into a voltage value by the photoelectric conversion circuit 403 and input to the operational amplifier 405, which outputs a detection waveform VoutB.

[0022] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the interior of the recording unit of the recording apparatus of this embodiment.

[0023] The carriage unit 100 is equipped with a print head 104 and ink cartridges, and prints by scanning left and right in the X direction on a carriage shaft 601. The paper feed transport unit 602 is equipped with a paper feed transport motor, gears, and transport rollers, and feeds and transports the recording medium. The carriage motor 603 drives the carriage unit 100 via a carriage belt. The rear paper feed unit 604 loads the recording paper.

[0024] Recording paper is fed from a rear paper feed unit 604, and label printing compatible disk media is loaded on a disk tray 501 and transported under the carriage unit 100 in the Y direction perpendicular to the print scanning direction X.

[0025] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of the multifunction printer of this embodiment.

[0026] The CPU 1700 controls the entire multifunction printer, the operation unit 1703, the power supply unit 1704, the USB interface unit 1705, the wired LAN interface unit 1706, the wireless LAN interface unit 1707, the reading unit 1708, the image processing unit 1709, the recording unit 1710, the drive unit 1711, the sensor unit 1712, the facsimile unit 1713, and the memory interface unit 1714 into which a USB memory or memory card is inserted, in accordance with a control program that is decompressed and expanded into the RAM 1702 from a program compressed and stored in the ROM 1701.

[0027] The RAM 1702 is a readable and writable memory composed of DRAM, and has a control program area as well as a data storage area, and stores image data read by the reading unit 1708 and obtained via the image processing unit 1709, or print data to be printed by the recording unit 1710.

[0028] It is also used to store binarized facsimile data sent and received by the facsimile unit 1713 to and from the subscriber line.

[0029] The operation unit 1703 is a user interface that is configured with operation buttons such as a power key, an operation start key, an operation stop key, and a home position key, as well as a liquid crystal display with a touch sensor, and is used to perform various operations and settings of the multifunction printer.

[0030] The power supply unit 1704 is composed of a switching power supply that outputs DC +24V / +32V voltage from commercial AC voltage, and a DC / DC converter that outputs DC +1.0V / +1.5V / +3.3V / +5.0V from the DC +32V to be used in the logic unit, and is controlled by the CPU 1700. The USB interface unit 1705 is connected to a host computer (hereinafter referred to as PC) via a USB cable and transfers print data from the PC, scan data read by the reading unit 1808, and read / write data to memory connected to the memory interface unit 1714.

[0031] The wired LAN interface unit 1706 is a LAN interface that has an RJ-45 connector and conforms to 10Base-T / 100Base-TX, and transmits and receives data to and from a PC connected to a network via a switching hub.

[0032] The wireless LAN interface unit 1707 is a wireless LAN interface that complies with IEEE802.11n / 11g / 11b / 11a / 11ac, and sends and receives data to and from a PC connected to the network via a wireless LAN router.

[0033] It is also possible to connect directly to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to send and receive data without a wireless LAN router.

[0034] The reading unit 1708 has a photoelectric conversion means such as a contact image sensor (CIS) or a CCD, and sequentially sends image data of the document read via the CIS or CCD under the control of the CPU 1700 to an image processing unit 1709.

[0035] The image processing unit 1709 is composed of a clock supply circuit that controls the reading unit 1708, a peak hold circuit, a shading correction circuit, an A / D conversion circuit, and a DMA controller, and converts the image data read by the reading unit 1708 into digital data, performs image processing, and transfers the image processed data to the RAM 1702.

[0036] The recording unit 1710 is composed of a DMA controller, a head control logic circuit, a bubble jet (BJ) printer head, an ink cartridge, etc., and extracts recording data stored in RAM 1702 under the control of the CPU 1700 and prints it out as a hard copy.

[0037] The drive unit 1711 is composed of a scanner motor for scanning a document placed on the document table of the reading unit 1708, an automatic document feed motor (hereinafter referred to as an ADF motor) for automatically scanning multiple documents, a paper feed motor for transporting recording paper in the recording unit 1710, a paper discharge motor, a carriage motor for scanning the print head, a recovery motor for cleaning the print head and ink supply unit, belts and gears that transmit the driving force of these motors, driver circuits that drive the motors, etc., and each motor is driven under the control of the CPU 1700.

[0038] The sensor unit 1712 is composed of a document presence sensor, a recording paper presence sensor, a multi-sensor that detects the position of the recording medium, an LED light source, and an encoder. The CPU 1700 detects the status of each sensor to control the status and transport amount of the document and recording medium.

[0039] The facsimile unit 1713 is composed of a V.34 / V.32 / V.32bis / V.17 / V.29 / V.27ter / V.23 / V.21 (H / L) modem and a line control circuit (NCU) that connects the subscriber line (PSTN) and the modem.

[0040] The NCU is a subscriber line interface circuit that conforms to the telephone line standards of each country, and performs line capture and release, call origination and reception, and impedance matching, ensuring isolation between the subscriber line and modem to transfer signals.

[0041] The modem receives an analog signal from the subscriber line via the NCU, demodulates it, and stores the binarized data in RAM 1702. Alternatively, it modulates transmission data stored in RAM 1702 and transmits it to the subscriber line via the NCU.

[0042] The memory interface unit 1714 is composed of a USB Type A connector, various card slots, and a card controller IC, and prints data stored in a connected USB memory or various memory cards using the recording unit 1710, stores data scanned by the reading unit 1708, and reads / writes data from a PC.

[0043] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a disc tray for fixing and transporting a circular disc medium compatible with label printing according to the first embodiment.

[0044] The disc tray 501 holds a disc medium such as a CD, DVD, or BD, with a protrusion 505 fixing the center hole of the disc medium that can be printed with labels.

[0045] The disc tray 501 is provided with aluminum-deposited tray position markers 502 / 503 and a disc installation confirmation marker 504.

[0046] FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment.

[0047] A disk medium is placed on the disk tray 501 and inserted into the recording device to start disk printing.

[0048] When printing starts, the disc tray 501 is transported in the disc transport direction Y into the recording device.

[0049] When the disc tray 501 is conveyed to a position where the tray position marker 502 / 503 of the disc tray 501 can be detected by the multi-sensor 102, it is stopped, and the position of the disc tray 501 is detected in step S1301.

[0050] FIG. 7 shows a waveform obtained when the tray position markers 502 / 503 of the disc tray 501 are detected by the multi-sensor 102 in step S1301.

[0051] The tray position markers 502 / 503 are detected while the carriage unit 100 is moved in a position marker detection scanning direction X perpendicular to the disc transport direction Y.

[0052] The carriage unit 100 is scanned while the LED light emitting element 103 is turned on, and the multi-sensor 102 receives specular light reflected from the tray position markers 502 / 503, and the position detection circuit detects a waveform 701 (specular reflection VoutA).

[0053] The center line of the tray is calculated from the tray position marker 502 / 503 portion of the detected waveform 701, and the carriage unit 100 is moved and stopped so that the multi-sensor 102 overlaps the center line of the disc tray 501, as shown in Figure 8.Then, in step S1302, the presence or absence of a disc medium is detected while the disc tray 501 is transported in the disc detection scanning direction Y.

[0054] If the user accidentally inserts the disc tray 501 into the recording device without a disc medium (misinsertion), when disc detection scanning is performed in step S1302, the multi-sensor 102 receives specularly reflected light reflected from the disc installation confirmation marker 504 shown in Figure 9, and the position detection circuit detects waveform 901 (specular reflection VoutA).

[0055] In this case, in step S1308, an error message is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the operation unit 1703 to notify the user that a disc is not loaded, and in step S1306, the disc tray 501 is ejected and printing ends.

[0056] If the disk medium is properly loaded, the disk loading confirmation marker 504 is not detected, and so in step S1303 a disk detection scan is performed to detect the presence or absence of diffused reflected light.

[0057] In the case of a label-printable disk medium, the printed area 805 shown in FIG. 10 is coated with an ink-receiving layer, so the irradiated light is diffusely reflected, but the other areas outside the printed area 804 and the central hole 803 are not diffusely reflected. Therefore, the multi-sensor 102 receives the diffusely reflected light, and the position detection circuit detects the waveform 1002 (diffuse reflection VoutB).

[0058] Since the print area 805 also contains specularly reflected light, the multi-sensor 102 receives the specularly reflected light and the position detection circuit also detects waveform 1001 (specular reflection VoutA), but this is not used to determine print area detection.

[0059] In step S1304, the range where diffusely reflected light is detected from waveform 1002 (diffuse reflection VoutB) is determined to be the print area, and in step S1305, printing is performed in the print area of ​​the disk medium, and in step S1306, the disk tray 501 is ejected and printing ends.

[0060] FIG. 11 shows the detected waveform when a disk medium with a wide print area that can be printed up to the vicinity of the center hole is scanned for detection.

[0061] The multi-sensor 102 receives diffusely reflected light according to the width of the print area 805, and the position detection circuit detects a waveform 1102 (diffuse reflection VoutB).

[0062] Even if the width of the print area varies, the print area can be detected according to the disc medium.

[0063] Next, if the user mistakenly places the disk medium upside down on the disk tray 501, i.e., with the data recording side facing the printing side, when the disk detection scan is performed in step S1302, the disk loading confirmation marker 504 is not detected, and it is determined that the disk medium is loaded.

[0064] When disc detection scanning is performed in step S1303, the light irradiated onto the data recording area 1201 shown in FIG. 12 is not diffusely reflected, so the multi-sensor 102 does not receive the diffusely reflected light and the position detection circuit does not react to waveform 1203 (diffuse reflection VoutB). However, since the light irradiated onto the data recording area 1201 is specularly reflected, the multi-sensor 102 receives only the specularly reflected light and the position detection circuit detects waveform 1202 (specular reflection VoutA).

[0065] Based on the detection result of step S1303, in step S1307, an error message is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the operation unit 1703 to notify the user that the disc is not properly mounted, and in step S1306 the disc tray 501 is ejected, ending printing.

[0066] As described above, the printing area of ​​label-printable disc media is coated with an ink-receiving layer, which allows the ink to settle in. Because the ink-receiving layer diffusely reflects light regardless of the background color of the printing area, detecting the diffusely reflected light from the disc media makes it possible to accurately detect the printing area of ​​disc media with different background colors and printing ranges in the printing area.

[0067] At the same time, by detecting the specularly reflected light, it is possible to detect an incorrectly mounted disk medium and notify the user.

[0068] (Second embodiment) Next, a second embodiment will be described.

[0069] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a card tray for fixing and transporting a label-printable card medium according to the second embodiment.

[0070] The card tray 1401 holds, in a recess 1405, card media compatible with standard label printing, such as an ID card, membership card, or patient registration card.

[0071] The card tray 1401 is provided with aluminum-deposited tray position markers 1402 / 1403 and a card insertion confirmation marker 1404.

[0072] FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

[0073] The card medium is placed on the card tray 1401 and inserted into the recording device to start card printing.

[0074] When printing starts, the card tray 1401 is transported in the card transport direction Y into the recording device.

[0075] When the card tray 1401 is conveyed to a position where the tray position markers 1402 / 1403 of the card tray 1401 can be detected by the multi-sensor 102, it is stopped, and the position of the card tray 1401 is detected in step S1601.

[0076] FIG. 18 shows the waveforms detected by the multi-sensor 102 when the tray position markers 1402 / 1403 on the card tray 1401 are detected in step S1601.

[0077] The tray position markers 1402 / 1403 are detected while the carriage unit 100 is moved in a position marker detection scanning direction X perpendicular to the card transport direction Y.

[0078] The carriage unit 100 is scanned while the LED light emitting element 103 is turned on, and the multi-sensor 102 receives specular light reflected from the tray position markers 1402 / 1403, and the position detection circuit detects a waveform 1801 (specular reflection VoutA).

[0079] The center line of the tray is calculated from the tray position marker 1402 / 1403 portion of the detected waveform 1801, and the carriage unit 100 is moved and stopped so that the multi-sensor 102 overlaps the center line of the card tray 1401, as shown in Figure 19.Then, in step S1602, the presence or absence of a card medium is detected while the card tray 1401 is transported in the card detection scanning direction Y.

[0080] If the user accidentally inserts the card tray 1401 into the recording device without inserting a card medium, when card detection scanning is performed in step S1602, the multi-sensor 102 receives specularly reflected light reflected from the card insertion confirmation marker 1404 shown in Figure 20, and the position detection circuit detects waveform 2001 (specular reflection VoutA).

[0081] In this case, in step S1609, an error message is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the operation unit 1703 to notify the user that a card is not inserted, and in step S1607, the card tray 1401 is ejected and printing ends.

[0082] If the card medium is properly inserted, the card insertion confirmation marker 1404 will not be detected, and so in step S1603, card detection scanning is performed to detect the presence or absence of diffused reflected light.

[0083] In the case of a label printing compatible card medium, the printed area 1501 (shaded area) shown in Figure 15 is coated with an ink receiving layer, so the irradiated light is diffusely reflected, but the rest of the printed area 1502 is not diffusely reflected, so the multi-sensor 102 receives the diffusely reflected light and the position detection circuit detects waveform 1506 (diffuse reflection VoutB-Y).

[0084] Since the outside of the printing area 1502 is specularly reflected and the printing area 805 also contains specularly reflected light, the multi-sensor 102 receives the specularly reflected light and the position detection circuit also detects waveform 1505 (specular reflection VoutA-Y), but this is not used to determine whether the printing area is detected.

[0085] In step S1604, the range in which diffusely reflected light is detected from the waveform 1506 (diffuse reflection VoutB-Y) is determined to be the print area Y and stored.

[0086] Next, in step S1605, the carriage unit 100 is transported in the card detection scanning direction X while performing a detection scan of the printing area 1501, the multi-sensor 102 receives the diffusely reflected light, and the position detection circuit detects the waveform 1504 (diffuse reflection VoutB-X), determines that it is the printing area X, and stores the result.

[0087] In step S1606, printing is performed on the printing area of ​​the card medium in accordance with the detected information on printing area X and printing area Y, and in step S1607, the card tray 1401 is ejected and printing ends.

[0088] If the user mistakenly inserts a card medium that does not support label printing into the card tray 1401, the card insertion confirmation marker 1404 is not detected when the card detection scan is performed in step S1602, and it is therefore determined that the card medium is inserted.

[0089] When card detection scanning is performed in step S1603, although not shown, since there is no ink receiving layer, the multi-sensor 102 does not receive diffusely reflected light and the waveform of the position detection circuit does not react. However, since the light irradiated onto the card medium is specularly reflected, the multi-sensor 102 receives only the specularly reflected light and the position detection circuit detects the waveform.

[0090] Based on the detection result of step S1603, in step S1608, an error message is displayed on the liquid crystal display of the operation unit 1703 to notify the user that the card is not correctly inserted, and in step S1607 the card tray 1401 is ejected, ending printing.

[0091] As described above, by detecting diffusely reflected light from a label-printable card medium, it is possible to detect the print area of ​​a card medium having a different base color or print range.

[0092] At the same time, by detecting the specularly reflected light, it is possible to detect an incorrectly inserted card medium and notify the user.

Claims

1. a light emitting means for irradiating light onto the recording medium; a first light receiving means including a plurality of light receiving elements for detecting diffusely reflected light from the recording medium; a detection means for detecting a printable area of ​​a recording medium based on the detection result of the diffused reflected light from the first light receiving means; A recording device comprising:

2. a second light receiving means for detecting specularly reflected light; a notification means for detecting an erroneous insertion of a recording medium based on the detection result of the diffusely reflected light by the first light receiving means and the detection result of the specularly reflected light by the second light receiving means, and notifying the user of the result; 2. The recording device according to claim 1, further comprising:

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