Recording apparatus

Abstract

If the label sensor is disposed on the upstream side of the conveyance roller, and the leading end of the leading label is detected by the label sensor while the label is back-fed, the label will separate from the conveyance roller before the leading end of the leading label is detected, the leading end of the leading label cannot be detected, and the leading label cannot be printed.SOLUTION: A head label is recorded based on a distance from a media sensor arranged on the downstream side of a conveyance roller to a label sensor arranged on the upstream side of the conveyance roller, a label length, a label interval, and a detection result obtained by detecting an end of a label following the head label by the label sensor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium. [Background technology]

[0002] Some recording devices use continuous sheets as recording media. In such recording devices, the sheets are conveyed by conveying rollers. Furthermore, as in Patent Document 1, when recording on labels attached at equal intervals to a continuous sheet, a label sensor detects the leading edge of the label and determines the recording start position for the label. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-77540 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When the label sensor is positioned upstream of the conveyance rollers as in Patent Document 1, if the label sensor attempts to detect the leading edge of the leading label while backfeeding, the label will come off the conveyance rollers before the leading edge of the leading label can be detected, making it impossible to detect the leading edge of the leading label. This makes it impossible to set the timing for starting recording on the leading label, which poses a problem: the leading label cannot be recorded. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention provides a recording device that uses labels affixed to successive sheets at predetermined intervals as recording media and records on the labels, and includes: a transport roller that transports the recording medium in a predetermined transport direction; a label sensor that is located upstream of the transport roller in the predetermined transport direction and detects the edge of the label affixed to the sheet in the predetermined transport direction using transmitted light; a media sensor that is located downstream of the transport roller in the predetermined transport direction and detects the presence or absence of the recording medium using reflected light; and a control means, wherein the control means performs recording on the leading label of the recording medium based on the distance from the media sensor to the label sensor, the length of the label in the predetermined transport direction, the predetermined interval, and the detection result of the label sensor detecting the edge of the second or subsequent labels counting from the leading label of the recording medium transported in the predetermined transport direction. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present invention, in a recording apparatus configured with a label sensor located upstream of the transport roller, it is possible to record on the leading label. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the appearance of a recording apparatus. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a recording apparatus. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the recording apparatus. [Figure 4] FIG. [Figure 5] FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between a conveying roller, a label sensor, and a media sensor. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart of an operation for aligning the leading edge position of a leading label. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram when the label length is short. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] <Overall configuration of the recording device> 1 is a perspective view showing a recording device of this embodiment. The recording device 100 comprises a device main body 101 provided with an operation unit 102 consisting of an LCD and a touch panel, and a roll sheet holder 103 into which a roll sheet on which a recording medium is wound in roll form is loaded. While conveying the roll sheet by a conveying means, the recording device 100 prints image data received from a host computer 104 in accordance with the labels affixed to the roll sheet. The recording device 100 and the host computer 104 are connected by a printer cable 105.

[0009] 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a recording apparatus 100 according to this embodiment. The recording apparatus 100 is configured to transport a rolled sheet 200, which serves as a recording medium, loaded in a rolled sheet holder 103, by a transport unit 201. The rolled sheet 200 is transported by transport rollers 202 and a transport belt 207 of the transport unit 201. A fan 208 is provided inside the transport unit 201, and the transport unit 201 transports the rolled sheet 200 by generating negative pressure with the fan 208 to suck the rolled sheet 200 onto the transport belt 207.

[0010] The recording apparatus of this embodiment is an inkjet printer that performs recording by ejecting ink. A recording head 210 having a number of nozzles that eject ink is held facing the surface of a conveyor belt 207 that conveys the recording medium. An ink tank (not shown) is connected to the recording head 210. During recording, an image is formed by ejecting ink from the recording head 210 in accordance with an image signal onto a roll sheet 200 conveyed by a conveyor unit 201. The recording apparatus 100 is also provided with a cap (not shown) that can cover the nozzles of the recording head 210. A pump unit (not shown) is connected to the cap, and negative pressure is created inside the cap to suck ink from inside the nozzles. By suctioning or ejecting ink from inside the nozzles into the cap, clogging of the nozzles can be prevented.

[0011] A label sensor 209 capable of detecting the presence or absence of a label attached to the roll sheet 200 is disposed at a position upstream of the recording head 210 in the conveying direction of the roll sheet 200 .

[0012] <Control unit> 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control unit that controls the operation of the printing apparatus 100 of this embodiment. The printing apparatus 100 performs printing operations and cleaning operations, which will be described later, in response to control signals from the control unit.

[0013] In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 denotes a main controller that controls the entire recording apparatus 100, and functions as a storage means for storing data, a data control means, and a setting means for changing the operation of the main body based on setting data. The main controller 301 is connected to the host computer 104, and exchanges signals with the host computer 104. Reference numeral 302 denotes a ROM connected to the main controller 301 that stores control programs and the like. In accordance with these programs, the main controller 301 uses a RAM 303 as working memory. Reference numeral 304 denotes an image buffer that stores image data sent from the host computer 104. Reference numeral 305 denotes a drive circuit that drives a heating element (not shown) built into the recording head 210. A driver controller 306 connected to the main controller 301 controls the head drive circuit 305 in accordance with the bitmap image data stored in the image buffer, thereby recording an image. Reference numeral 307 denotes a drive circuit that drives a conveyance motor 206 provided in a conveyance section, etc., and is controlled by the main controller 301. The screen displayed on the LCD of the operation unit 102 and the behavior when the user operates the touch panel are also controlled by the main controller 301. A sensor circuit 309 detects the media sensor 211, label sensor 209, and the like.

[0014] <Transport unit> The transport unit 201 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the transport unit 201. When performing recording, the transport unit 201 transports the roll sheet 200 in the direction of arrow A. The transport unit 201 includes a transport roller 202, a pinch roller 203, a transport belt 207, a platen 402, and a sheet guide 403.

[0015] The surfaces of the transport rollers 202 in this embodiment are coated with ceramic to increase the frictional force with the transported roll sheet 200. In addition to ceramic coating, rollers whose surfaces have been subjected to blasting treatment can also be used as transport rollers to increase the frictional force with the roll sheet 200. A plurality of transport rollers 202 are attached to a transport roller shaft, which will be described later.

[0016] The pinch roller 203 is biased toward the conveying roller 202 by the elastic force of a spring 401. The conveying roller 202 and the pinch roller 203 sandwich the rolled sheet 200.

[0017] The conveyor belt 207 is stretched along the conveying direction (arrow A) downstream of the conveying roller 202 in the conveying direction. An opening is formed in the conveyor belt 207. A fan 208 shown in FIG. 2 is provided inside the conveying unit 201, and air is sucked through the opening in the conveyor belt 207 by the negative pressure generated by the fan 208. When the rolled sheet 200 is set in the conveying unit 201, the back surface of the rolled sheet 200 is sucked to the upper surface of the conveyor belt 207 by the air sucked into the opening in the conveyor belt 207.

[0018] The upper surface of the platen 402 is configured to be at the same height as the upper surface of the conveyor belt 207. An opening is provided in the upper surface of the platen 402, similar to the conveyor belt 207. Air is also sucked through the opening in the platen 402 by the negative pressure generated by the fan 208, and the back surface of the rolled sheet 200 is sucked onto the upper surface of the platen 402. When the rolled sheet 200 is conveyed, the back surface of the rolled sheet 200 is in contact with the upper surface of the platen 402 while being conveyed.

[0019] 4 is the area on the platen 402 where recording is performed on the rolled sheet 200 by the recording head 210. By applying suction to the area of ​​arrow B on the platen 402, the area on the rolled sheet 200 where recording is performed is sucked onto the surface of the platen 402. By preventing the rolled sheet 200 from floating up, it is possible to prevent the rolled sheet 200 from coming into contact with the recording head 210 and to prevent a decrease in the recording quality due to a narrow gap between the rolled sheet 200 and the recording head 210.

[0020] The sheet guide 403 regulates the widthwise position of the rolled sheet 200. The sheet guide is configured as a pair to regulate both ends in the widthwise direction. The pair of sheet guides 403 uses a rack and pinion mechanism, so that when one is moved in the widthwise direction, the other moves in the opposite direction in tandem by the same distance. This mechanism ensures that the center of the rolled sheet 200 in the widthwise direction remains in the same position even when recording on rolled sheets 200 of different widths.

[0021] The center of the conveyor belt 207 in the belt width direction is positioned to coincide with the center of the sheet width regulated by the sheet guide 403. Therefore, even if a rolled sheet 200 of a different width is set in the recording device 100, the conveyor belt 207 can convey the rolled sheet 200 while contacting the center portion of the rolled sheet 200 in the width direction.

[0022] 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating the roll sheet 200. As shown in Fig. 5, the roll sheet 200 is a continuous sheet wound into a roll, with labels 702 attached at equal intervals to a backing sheet 701. As shown in Fig. 6, labels with a label length L are attached to the roll sheet 200 at label intervals G. The recording device 100 transports the roll sheet 200 and records on the labels 702.

[0023] 7 is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the conveying roller 202, label sensor 209, and media sensor 211. The label sensor is located upstream in the conveying direction of the conveying roller 202. The media sensor 211 is located downstream of the conveying roller 202 in the conveying direction A.

[0024] The label sensor 209 is a transmission sensor that detects the boundary between the backing paper 701 and the label 702, i.e., the leading and trailing ends of the label 702, from the difference in light transmittance between the portion of the roll sheet 200 where only the backing paper 701 is present and the portion where the backing paper 701 and the label 702 overlap.

[0025] The media sensor 211 is a reflective sensor that detects the leading edge of the backing sheet 701 based on the difference in light reflectance between the platen 402 and the backing sheet 701.

[0026] Example 1 8 is a flowchart of the control for moving the leading label of the roll sheet 200 to the print start position in this embodiment. The operation for moving the leading label of the roll sheet 200 to the print start position will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

[0027] <Explanation of the flowchart> The main controller 301 starts operation when it detects that the roll sheet 200 has been set in the recording device 100 where no sheet has been set. The setting of the roll sheet 200 is detected by the label sensor 209 (step S101).

[0028] When the setting of the rolled sheet 200 is detected, the main controller 301 drives the conveyance motor 206 to start conveying the rolled sheet 200 in the conveyance direction (step S102).

[0029] When the media sensor 211 detects the leading edge of the rolled sheet 200, that is, the leading edge of the backing sheet 701 (step S103), the main controller 301 stops the transport of the rolled sheet 200 (step S104). The state at this time is shown in FIG.

[0030] Next, the main controller 301 drives the conveying motor 206 to start reverse conveyance, which conveys the rolled sheet 200 in the direction opposite to the conveying direction A (step S105).

[0031] After the start of reverse conveyance, when the label sensor 209 first detects the leading edge of the label 703 (step S106), the position of the label 703 is stored in the RAM 303 (step S107), and the reverse conveyance is stopped (step S108). The state at this time is shown in FIG. 7(b).

[0032] At this time, the leading edge of the leading label 702 on the roll sheet 200 is located downstream from the position where the label sensor 209 detects the leading edge of the label 703 by label interval G+label length L. This position is set as the leading edge position of the leading label 702 and stored in RAM 303 (step S109).

[0033] The information on the label length L and label spacing G is acquired by the recording apparatus 100 from information set by the user in the host computer 104. Alternatively, information input by the user to the recording apparatus 100 may be used. Furthermore, the information may be acquired from the detection results of the label sensor 209 when the roll sheet 200 is conveyed.

[0034] Next, the main controller 301 moves the tip of the first label 702 set in step S109 to the recording start position P (step S110), and ends the operation.

[0035] When image data is sent from the host computer 104 to the recording device 100, the recording start timing for the label 702 is set and recording is performed according to the detection result of the leading edge of the label 703, the leading edge position of the leading label 702 derived from the label interval G and label length L.

[0036] As described above, by setting the timing for starting printing on the first label 702, when image data is sent from the host computer 104 to the printing device 100, it is possible to start printing on the first label 702.

[0037] The leading edge of the second and subsequent labels can be detected by the label sensor 209, so the timing of starting recording for each label can be controlled based on the detection result of the label 209.

[0038] In addition, in this embodiment, the leading edge of the second label 703 is detected by the label sensor 209 and control is performed, but the trailing edge of the label 703 may be detected and the timing to start printing for the leading label 702 may be set based on the label interval G and label length L.

[0039] <Example 2> 9(a) is a diagram showing the state when a label with a short label length L is set in the recording device 100. When the label length L is short, when the leading edge of the label is detected in step S106 of the flowchart in FIG. 8, the leading edge of a label several labels away from the leading label is detected, rather than the label adjacent to the leading label.

[0040] Even in such cases, the leading edge position of the leading label can be set. If the distance from the detection position of the media sensor 211 to the detection position of the label sensor 209 is D, then D÷(L+G) is calculated using the label length L and the label spacing G, and the integer part of this quotient indicates the number of labels from the leading edge at which the leading edge is detected. For example, in Figure 9(b), if D = 160 mm, L = 40 mm, and G = 10 mm, the leading edge of the label detected in step 106 of the flowchart in Figure 8 will be the leading edge of the third label from the leading label.

[0041] In this way, if it is determined that the label 901 whose leading edge has been detected is the third label counting from the leading label 902, the leading edge position of the leading label 902 can be set from the leading edge position of the label 901 detected by the label sensor 209, the label length L, and the label spacing G, and by moving the leading edge of the leading label 902 to the print start position, it becomes possible to record on the leading label 902.

[0042] <Modification> In the embodiments described above, the transport of the rolled sheet 200 was stopped when the leading edge of the rolled sheet 200 was detected by the media sensor 211. Alternatively, the user may set the leading edge of the rolled sheet 200 at a predetermined position downstream of the transport rollers 202, and then perform the operations from step S105 onwards. In this case, the distance D' from the predetermined position to the label sensor 209 is used instead of the distance D from the detection position of the media sensor 211 to the detection position of the label sensor 209. This allows recording on the leading label even in a recording device that does not have a media sensor 211.

[0043] Furthermore, a reflective sensor may be used instead of a transmissive sensor for the label sensor 209. When using a roll sheet 200 in which a mark indicating the position of the label is formed on the surface of the backing paper 701 on which no label is attached, a reflective sensor may be used as the label sensor 209 to perform the same operation.

[0044] Furthermore, the user may be able to switch whether to print from the first label or not. That is, a mode in which the first label is printed using the detected leading edges of the second and subsequent labels, and a mode in which printing is not performed on the first label but is performed from the second and subsequent labels, may be set so that the user can select the mode.

[0045] While printing of the first label is controlled using the calculation results, printing of the second and subsequent labels is controlled using the results actually detected by the label sensor 209. As a result, there may be differences in the printing position relative to the first label and the second and subsequent labels. This is because the printing position of the first label is affected by errors in the label spacing G and label length L, whereas the second and subsequent labels are not affected by these errors. For this reason, users who do not want differences in the printing start position may be able to select a mode from the operation unit 102 of the printing device or the host computer 104 so that printing is performed on the second and subsequent labels.

[0046] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform recording on the leading label in a recording apparatus configured with a label sensor located upstream of the transport rollers. [Explanation of symbols]

[0047] Roll sheet 200 Transport unit 201 Conveyor roller 202 Pinch roller 203 Belt pulley 204 Transport motor 206 Conveyor belt 207 Fan 208 Label Sensor 209 Recording head 210 Media Sensor 211 Platen 402 Seat guide 403 Mount 701 Label 702

Claims

1. A recording device that uses labels attached at predetermined intervals to a continuous sheet as a recording medium and performs recording on the labels, a conveying roller that conveys the recording medium in a predetermined conveying direction; a label sensor located upstream of the conveying roller in the predetermined conveying direction, the label sensor detecting an end of the label affixed to the sheet in the predetermined conveying direction by transmitted light; a media sensor located downstream of the transport roller in the predetermined transport direction, the media sensor detecting the presence or absence of the recording medium by reflected light; a control means; Equipped with The control means performs recording on the leading label of the recording medium based on the distance from the media sensor to the label sensor, the length of the label in the predetermined transport direction, the predetermined interval, and the detection result of the label sensor detecting the end of the second or subsequent label counting from the leading label of the recording medium transported in the predetermined transport direction. A recording device characterized by:

2. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means performs recording on each of the second and subsequent labels based on the detection result of the label sensor for the label on which recording is to be performed.

3. A recording device that uses labels attached at predetermined intervals to a continuous sheet as a recording medium and performs recording on the labels, a conveying roller that conveys the recording medium in a predetermined conveying direction; a label sensor located upstream of the conveying roller in the predetermined conveying direction, the label sensor detecting an end of the label affixed to the sheet in the predetermined conveying direction by transmitted light; a media sensor located downstream of the transport roller in the predetermined transport direction, the media sensor detecting the presence or absence of the recording medium by reflected light; a control means; Equipped with The control means a first mode in which recording is performed on the leading label of the recording medium based on the distance from the media sensor to the label sensor, the length of the label in the predetermined transport direction, the predetermined interval, and the detection result of the label sensor detecting the second or subsequent label counting from the leading label of the recording medium transported in the predetermined transport direction; a second mode in which recording is not performed on the first label, but is performed on the second and subsequent labels; can be set, and the mode is set according to the user's instructions. A recording device characterized by:

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