Claims
- 1. A printer for printing on a plurality of pages, comprising: an ink ribbon having a plurality of ribbon tracks of a same color arranged side by side across said ink ribbon;
- means for feeding print paper having a plurality of pages to be printed;
- printing means for using an arbitrary one of said plurality of ribbon tracks to print on said print paper;
- determining means for determining whether any one of a plurality of operations is executed during printing, said plurality of operations including changing said plurality of pages to be printed, feeding a top of a new page of said plurality of pages to a printing position, and loading a new print paper; and
- ribbon track switching means for switching said ribbon tracks prior to printing on a new page when said determining means determines that one of said operations has been executed.
- 2. The printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said feeding means includes a stepping motor for feeding said paper,
- wherein when said paper in use is continuous paper, a number of steps of said stepping motor for feeding said paper is controlled to allow said determining means to determine a change of said plurality of pages; and
- wherein when said determining means determines said change of said plurality of pages has been executed, said plurality of ribbon tracks are switched from one to another by said ribbon track switching means.
- 3. The printer as claimed in claim 2, wherein said determining means determines a change of said plurality of pages according to whether an accumulated number of steps of said stepping motor has reached a predetermined value.
- 4. The printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said determining means determines whether said operation of feeding a top of a new page of said plurality of pages to a printing position has been executed, by a form-feed operation executed upon reception of a form-feed code, and said ribbon track switching means switches said plurality of ribbon tracks when said determining means determines that said operation of feeding a top of a new page to a printing position has been executed.
- 5. The printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein paper to be printed upon by said ink ribbon is one of continuous paper and cut sheets of paper.
- 6. A method of switching a ribbon track of a plurality of ribbon tracks of a same color of an ink ribbon, said plurality of ribbon tracks of the same color being arranged side-by-side across said ink ribbon, an arbitrary one of said plurality of ribbon tracks being used to print on print paper having a plurality of pages, said method comprising the steps of:
- determining whether any one of a plurality of operations is executed during printing, said plurality of operations including changing said plurality of pages to be printed, feeding a top of a new page of said plurality of pages to a printing position, and loading a new print page;
- switching said ribbon tracks prior to printing on a new page when said determining means determines that one of said plurality of operations has been executed.
- 7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:
- with continuous paper in use, controlling a number of steps of a stepping motor for feeding said paper to allow determination of a change of said plurality of pages; and
- switching said plurality of ribbon tracks from one to another when it is determined that said change of said plurality of pages has been executed.
- 8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein said change of said plurality of pages is determined according to whether an accumulated number of steps of said stepping motor has reached a predetermined value.
- 9. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the steps of:
- determining whether said operation of feeding a top of a new page of said plurality of pages to a printing position has been executed, by a form-feed operation executed upon reception of a form-feed code;
- switching said plurality of ribbon tracks when it is determined that said operation of feeding a top of a new page to a printing position has been executed.
- 10. The method as claimed in claim 6,
- wherein said paper in use is one of continuous paper and cut sheets of paper.
- 11. A printer for printing data on a medium, said medium having at least one page, said printer comprising:
- an ink ribbon having a plurality of ribbon tracks arranged side by side across said ink ribbon;
- means for switching said ribbon tracks from one to another during a printing operation by said ink ribbon on said medium;
- means for determining whether a page of said medium to be printed on is changed and for determining whether a top of a new page of said medium is fed to a printing position and for determining whether a type of medium different from that of said medium to be printed on is loaded into said printer; and
- means for switching said ribbon tracks from one to another upon determination by said determining means of one of said top of said new page of said medium being fed to said printing position and a type of medium different from that of said medium to be printed on being loaded into said printer.
- 12. A printer according to claim 11, wherein said medium includes a plurality of pages, said printer being adapted for printing on said plurality of pages of said medium, wherein, prior to printing a subsequent page, a first ribbon track of said plurality of ribbon tracks is switched to a second ribbon track of said plurality of ribbon tracks by said means for switching.
- 13. A printer according to claim 11, wherein said plurality of ribbon tracks have a same color.
- 14. A method of switching a ribbon track of a plurality of ribbon tracks of an ink ribbon for use with a printer, said method comprising the steps of:
- sensing a change of pages to be printed upon by said ink ribbon in said printer;
- determining a last used ribbon track of said plurality of ribbon tracks of said ink ribbon in printing a page in a printing operation by said printer; and
- switching said ribbon track of said plurality of ribbon tracks of said ink ribbon to another ribbon track of said plurality of ribbon tracks in response to the result of the sensing step that a page to be printed on is changed in said printer.
- 15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising a step of providing paper to be printed upon by said ink ribbon, said paper being one of continuous paper and cut sheets of paper.
- 16. The method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising a step of providing said printer with a stepping motor, and a step of, with continuous paper in use, controlling a number of steps of said stepping motor for feeding said continuous paper to determine whether a printing page in said printer has been changed.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
4-322705 |
Nov 1992 |
JPX |
|
Parent Case Info
This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 08/147,079 filed Nov. 3, 1993, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Foreign Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Date |
Country |
4028861 |
Aug 1961 |
JPX |
51-11528 |
Apr 1976 |
JPX |
0256683 |
Nov 1987 |
JPX |
3193382 |
Aug 1991 |
JPX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
147079 |
Nov 1993 |
|