This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-244493, filed on Oct. 29, 2010, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Embodiments described herein relate generally to a printer and a printing method.
There is conventionally known a printer including a plurality of print heads as image forming units for forming images on a medium. In the printer of this type, the image forming units can form different ink images on the medium. As an example of inks, there is known a temperature-sensitive ink that changes color depending on the temperature thereof.
In the printer referred to above, it is desirable to efficiently visualize images when forming images with a temperature-sensitive ink and images with a non-temperature-sensitive ink on the medium.
According to one embodiment, a printer includes a conveying mechanism, a first image forming unit, and a second image forming unit. The conveying mechanism conveys a medium. The first image forming unit forms an image with a non-temperature-sensitive ink whose color is not changed depending on a temperature, on the medium. The second image forming unit forms an image with a temperature-sensitive ink whose color is changed depending on a temperature, on the medium having the image with the non-temperature-sensitive ink formed thereon.
Certain embodiments will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The embodiments described below include like components. In the following description, like components will be designated by common reference symbols and will not be described repeatedly.
In a first embodiment, a printer 1 is made up of, e.g., a thermal printer configured to heat an ink ribbon and transfer an ink to a medium M such as a paper. The medium M may be, e.g., a label like the one shown in
The printer 1 includes a body unit la to which a plurality of (four, in the present embodiment) ink ribbon cartridges 3 (3A through 3D) can be attached in a removable manner. The ink ribbon cartridges 3 are arranged side by side along a conveyance path P of the strip-shaped backing paper 2 defined inside the printer 1. Each of the ink ribbon cartridges 3 includes a head (thermal head) 3a and an ink ribbon 3d (see
A roll 2a of the backing paper 2 is removably and rotatably mounted to the body unit 1a at the most upstream side of the conveyance path P. Upon rotation of conveying rollers 4, the backing paper 2 is drawn away from the roll 2a and conveyed through the conveyance path P.
The conveyance path P is defined not only by the arrangement of the ink ribbon cartridges 3 but also by the arrangement of the conveying rollers 4 and auxiliary rollers 5. The printer 1 includes a plurality of conveying rollers 4 rotationally driven by a motor 6. Rotation of the motor 6 is transmitted to the respective conveying rollers 4 through a rotation-transmitting mechanism (or a speed-reducing mechanism) 7. The printer 1 includes auxiliary rollers 5 arranged in such positions that the auxiliary rollers 5 pinch the backing paper 2 in cooperation with the conveying rollers 4 or in such positions that the backing paper 2 is stretched between the conveying rollers 4 or between the auxiliary rollers 5. The printer 1 further includes a sensor 8 for detecting the medium M and a tension detecting mechanism 9 for detecting the tension of the backing paper 2. In the present embodiment, the motor 6, the rotation-transmitting mechanism 7, the conveying rollers 4 and the auxiliary rollers 5 make up a conveying mechanism for conveying the backing paper 2 (the medium M).
The printer 1 can be mounted with an ink ribbon cartridge 3 having an ink ribbon of a non-temperature-sensitive ink whose color is not changed depending on a temperature. In addition, the printer 1 can be mounted with an ink ribbon cartridge 3 having an ink ribbon of a temperature-sensitive ink whose color is changed depending on a temperature. Moreover, the printer 1 can be mounted with an ink ribbon cartridge 3 having a differently-colored ink ribbon (with a non-temperature-sensitive ink or a temperature-sensitive ink). Each of the ink ribbon cartridges 3 can be removably mounted in one of the mounting positions of the ink ribbon cartridges 3 (3A through 3D) provided in the body unit 1a.
Among the temperature-sensitive inks is an ink whose coloring state varies above and below a threshold temperature Th as depicted in
Among the temperature-sensitive inks, there is also an ink whose coloring state varies above and below two different threshold temperatures Th1 and Th2 when the temperature T goes up and down as depicted in
In the case of a thermal printer, the temperature T goes up during an image forming process (heat transfer process). Therefore, if images with a temperature-sensitive ink whose color is changed to the same color as the medium M at a temperature higher that the threshold temperatures Th, Th1 and Th2 mentioned above are formed on the medium M through the use of the printer 1, it is often impossible or difficult to determine whether the temperature-sensitive ink images are successfully formed on the medium M. Depending on the kinds of temperature-sensitive inks, it is sometimes the case that the temperature-sensitive ink images formed on the medium M are hardly visible at a normal temperature. In view of this, the printer 1 of the present embodiment includes a cooling mechanism 10 that serves as a coloring conversion mechanism for converting the coloring state of temperature-sensitive ink images formed on the medium M. In the present embodiment, the temperature T is reduced by, e.g., cooling the temperature-sensitive ink images with the cooling mechanism 10. Thus, the temperature-sensitive ink images get visualized and become readily visible, thereby making it easy to check the formation situation of the temperature-sensitive ink images on the medium M. In other words, the cooling mechanism 10 may be said to be a coloring conversion mechanism or a visualizing mechanism of temperature-sensitive ink images. In the present embodiment, a cooling mechanism provided in the printer 1 may be a feature different from generally available commercial printers, since a cooling mechanism is not usually provided in a general printer. That is, it has not been tried to provide a cooling mechanism in a thermal printer that is used to perform printing in a state of high temperature.
In the present embodiment, the cooling mechanism 10 is configured to spout, e.g., a gas, and reduce the temperature of the medium M, namely the temperature of the temperature-sensitive ink images, using the adiabatic expansion or the latent heat of the gas. More specifically, the cooling mechanism 10 includes a mounting portion 10a for holding a gas cartridge 11 of a gas cylinder, a spouting portion 10b, a tube 10c, a valve 10d and a cooling fin 10e.
The gas cartridge 11 is removably mounted to the mounting portion 10a. The mounting portion 10a serves as a connector for receiving a connector 11a of the gas cartridge 11. The mounting portion 10a may include a movable lever (not shown) used in removing the gas cartridge 11 and a lock mechanism (not shown) for fixing the gas cartridge 11 in a mounting position.
The gas cartridge 11 may be made up of, e.g., a gas cylinder (gas bomb) filled with a liquefied gas. As the gas (coolant), it is possible to use, e.g., tetrafluoroethane.
As shown in
The spouting portion 10b is supported by brackets 10h to rotate about a rotation axis Ax extending in the width direction of the backing paper 2 and is capable of changing the spouting angle (spouting direction) of the gas G as illustrated in
The tube 10c has pressure resistance and flexibility required for the tube 10c to serve as a gas conduit between the mounting portion 10a and the spouting portion 10b regardless of the change of the angle of the spouting portion 10b.
The valve 10d can switch the spouting of the gas from the spouting portion 10b and the blocking of the gas by opening or closing a gas flow path extending from the gas cartridge 11 to the spouting portion 10. The valve 10d may be made up of, e.g., a solenoid valve which is opened in response to an electric signal supplied from a CPU 20a (see
The cooling fin 10e includes a base portion 10k close to or adjoining the outer circumferential surface 11b of the gas cartridge 11 and a plurality of plate-shaped portions 10m extending in the conveying direction and protruding from the base portion 10k toward positions near the rear surface of the backing paper 2. When the temperature of the gas cartridge 11 is reduced by spouting the gas, the cooling fin 10e can enhance the cooling performance for the medium M. The cooling mechanism 10 can be removably mounted to the body unit 1a.
Referring to
The CPU 20a controls each unit of the printer 1 by executing various kinds of computer-readable programs stored in the ROM 20b or other places. The ROM 20b stores, e.g., various kinds of data processed by the CPU 20a and various kinds of programs (such as a basic input/output system abbreviated as BIOS, an application program and a device driver program) executed by the CPU 20a. The RAM 20c temporarily stores data and programs while the CPU 20a executes various kinds of programs. The NVRAM 20d stores, e.g., an OS (Operating System), an application program, a device driver program and various kinds of data which are to be kept intact even when the power is turned off.
The communication interface (I/F) 20e controls data communication with other devices connected through telecommunication lines.
The conveying motor controller 20f controls the motor 6 pursuant to an instruction supplied from the CPU 20a. The head controller 20g controls the head 3a (see
The input unit controller 20j transmits to the CPU 20a signals inputted through an input unit 12 (e.g., push buttons, a touch panel, a keyboard, a microphone, knobs or DIP switches) for inputting manual operations or voices of a user. The output unit controller 20k controls an output unit 13 (e.g., a display, a light-emitting unit, a speaker or a buzzer) for outputting images or voices pursuant to an instruction supplied from the CPU 20a. The sensor controller 20m transmits to the CPU 20a a signal indicative of the detection result of a sensor 8.
Turning to
The print control unit 21a controls the motor 6, the head 3a and the ribbon motor 3b through the conveying motor controller 20f, the head controller 20g and the ribbon motor controller 20h. Images such as letters or pictures are formed on the medium M under the control of the print control unit 21a.
The coloring conversion setting unit 21b performs various kinds of setting operations associated with the coloring conversion of the temperature-sensitive ink images printed on the medium M (the cooling performed by the cooling mechanism 10 in the present embodiment). More specifically, the coloring conversion setting unit 21b can cause the storage unit such as the NVRAM 20d to store a pitch (frequency) at which coloring conversion (cooling) is performed with respect to the medium M and a parameter for setting the opening or closing conditions of the valve 10d (e.g., the opening/closing timing, the opening/closing duration, the number of opening/closing times and the opening/closing time period), which are inputted through the input unit 12.
The counter unit 21c counts the number of the media M (or the number of image formation areas) detected by the sensor 8. The determination unit 21d compares the count value counted by the counter unit 21c with the pitch (frequency) stored in the storage unit and determines whether to perform coloring conversion (cooling in the present embodiment). The coloring conversion control unit 21e controls each part or unit (the respective parts of the cooling mechanism 10 in the present embodiment) in order to perform coloring conversion (cooling in the present embodiment) with respect to the medium M (the temperature-sensitive ink images formed on the medium M) that is determined to be subjected to coloring conversion. In the present embodiment, the coloring conversion control unit 21e performs the coloring conversion of the medium M by controlling the opening/closing state of the valve 10d and consequently controlling the spouting state of the gas. The coloring conversion control unit 21e also corresponds to the spouting condition adjusting mechanism. In the present embodiment, pursuant to the setting of the pitch (frequency), the coloring conversion can be performed with respect to the temperature-sensitive ink images formed on all the media M or some of the media M.
The printer 1 configured as above can produce, e.g., a medium M as illustrated in
The temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 illustrated in
If the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 have the property of transmitting visible rays, the images Im1 and Im2 can be visualized with a color obtained by mixing the colors of the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 and the color of the non-temperature-sensitive ink image Imb.
When the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 are formed by two kinds of temperature-sensitive inks differing in the threshold temperatures Th1 and Th2 as set forth above, the ink ribbon cartridges 3 for forming the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 are independently mounted to the body unit 1a because the inks used differ from each other.
In order for the printer 1 to form the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 on the medium M having the non-temperature-sensitive ink image Imb formed thereon, the ink ribbon cartridge 3 (e.g., the ink ribbon cartridge 3D) for forming the non-temperature-sensitive ink image Imb is arranged at the upstream side of the conveyance path P and the ink ribbon cartridges 3 (e.g., the ink ribbon cartridges 3A and 3B) for forming the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2 are arranged at the downstream side of the conveyance path P. The ink ribbon cartridge 3 (e.g., the ink ribbon cartridge 3C) for forming the non-temperature-sensitive ink image Im3 may be arranged between the ink ribbon cartridge 3 for forming the non-temperature-sensitive ink image Imb and the ink ribbon cartridges 3 for forming the temperature-sensitive ink images Im1 and Im2. In this example, the heads 3a (see
As one example, the medium M illustrated in
As another example, images Im1 and Im2 of a temperature-sensitive ink with a temperature-sensitive property showing a hysteresis in temperature rising and falling processes as depicted in
In the printer 1 of the present embodiment, as shown in
In the printer 1 of the present embodiment described above, the head 3a of the ink ribbon cartridge 3 as an image forming unit forms temperature-sensitive ink images on the medium M and the cooling mechanism 10 as a coloring conversion mechanism converts the coloring of the images. According to the present embodiment, it is therefore possible to impart desired coloring states to the temperature-sensitive ink images formed on the medium M outputted from the printer 1. It is also easy to confirm whether desired temperature-sensitive ink images are successfully formed on the medium M.
In the present embodiment, the cooling mechanism 10 as a coloring conversion mechanism reduces the temperature of the images by spouting a gas. This makes it possible to obtain the cooling mechanism 10 with a relatively simple structure.
In the present embodiment, the printer 1 includes, as the spouting condition adjusting mechanism for adjusting the spouting condition of the gas, a mechanism for adjusting the posture of the spouting portion 10b (e.g., the spouting direction of the gas G spouted from the nozzle holes 10g) and a mechanism for variably setting the gas spouting timing or the gas spouting time period (e.g., the opening/closing time period of the valve 10d). This makes it possible to suitably adjust the condition of the cooling performed by the gas.
As the spouting condition adjusting mechanism, it is possible to employ, e.g., a movable plate 14 for changing the number of effective nozzle holes 10g as shown in
In the present embodiment, the printer 1 includes the heads 3a of the ink ribbon cartridges 3 as a plurality of image forming units for forming images with different temperature-sensitive inks on the medium M. Accordingly, a plurality of ink images differing in temperature-sensitive property can be formed on the medium M, which makes it possible to perform temperature management in multiple stages.
In the present embodiment, the cooling mechanism 10 cools the temperature-sensitive ink image extracted (selected or designated) and converts the coloring state thereof. This configuration can reduce energy consumption as compared with a case where all the temperature-sensitive ink images are cooled.
In the printer 1, it is also possible to use a temperature-sensitive ink having a property opposite to the property of the temperature-sensitive ink stated above, namely a temperature-sensitive ink having such property that the temperature-sensitive ink is visualized when the temperature thereof exceeds a management temperature. For example, as shown in
Referring to
Referring to
While certain preferred embodiments have been described above, the present disclosure is not limited thereto but may be modified in many different forms. For example, the printer may include three or more image forming units for forming images with different temperature-sensitive inks. The printer may include both the cooling mechanism and the heating mechanism as the coloring conversion mechanism. In this case, one of the cooling mechanism and the heating mechanism may be caused to act on the temperature-sensitive ink images to first bring the images into an easy-to-see (visible) state. Thereafter, the other may be caused to act on the temperature-sensitive ink images to bring the images into a hard-to-see (invisible) state (namely, to return the images to the original state). This enables a worker or other persons to confirm the temperature-sensitive ink images in the easy-to-see (visible) state. The number of the cooling mechanism and the heating mechanism may be changed to many other numbers. The temperature-sensitive ink images may be formed over a portion of the non-temperature-sensitive ink image.
The printer may include a spouting portion for spouting a cold gas or a hot gas as the cooling mechanism or the heating mechanism. A cold gas or a hot gas can be fed from the outside to the spouting portion through a connector and a pipe. In this configuration, it is possible to omit the gas cartridge, which makes it possible to reduce the size of the printer proportionate to the omission of the gas cartridge.
The printer may be configured from a printer of another type using ink (e.g., an inkjet printer). In case of an inkjet printer, an ink head corresponds to the image forming unit.
The specifications (type, structure, shape, size, arrangement, position, number, constituent or temperature-sensitive property) of the respective components (the print system, the printer, the medium, the ink ribbon cartridge, the image forming unit, the coloring conversion mechanism, the cooling mechanism, the heating mechanism, the spouting condition adjusting mechanism, the coloring conversion device, the image or the temperature-sensitive ink) may be appropriately modified and embodied.
As used in this application, entities for executing the actions can refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, an entity for executing an action can be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on an apparatus and the apparatus can be an entity. One or more entities can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and an entity can be localized on one apparatus and/or distributed between two or more apparatuses.
The program for realizing the functions can be recorded in the apparatus, can be downloaded through a network to the apparatus, or can be installed in the apparatus from a computer readable storage medium storing the program therein. A form of the computer readable storage medium can be any form as long as the computer readable storage medium can store programs and is readable by the apparatus such as a disk type ROM and a solid-state computer storage media. The functions obtained by installation or download in advance in this way can be realized in cooperation with an OS (Operating System) in the apparatus.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel printer and medium described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2010-244493 | Oct 2010 | JP | national |