The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.
As a printing apparatus, there is known an apparatus that performs printing on a sheet in the process from feeding to discharging of the sheet. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2018-114648 discloses an apparatus that performs printing by discharging ink onto a sheet.
When a printed sheet is discharged, the sheet may fall from the printing apparatus and the printed surface may be damaged. As a measure to prevent a fall of the sheet, a method is conceivable in which the sheet is not completely discharged but nipped with a pair of rollers, and discharge of the sheet is completed in accordance with a user operation on an operation panel. However, in this method, the user is required to operate the operation panel while supporting the sheet to be discharged, and this imposes an overburden on the user.
The present invention provides a technique capable of discharging a sheet while preventing a fall of the sheet to be discharged and reducing the burden on a user.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a printing unit configured to perform printing on a sheet; a conveyance unit including a first rotating member and a second rotating member that nip and convey the sheet, and configured to hold the sheet by temporarily stopping the conveyance before completion of discharge of the sheet; a detection unit configured to detect a rotation of the first rotating member, a determination unit configured to determine whether the sheet has been pulled in a discharge direction based on a detection result of the detection unit in a case where the conveyance unit holds the sheet; and a control unit configured to, if the determination unit determines that the sheet has been pulled in the discharge direction, cause the conveyance unit to perform a discharging process of the sheet.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings).
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note, the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention. Multiple features are described in the embodiments, but limitation is not made to an invention that requires all such features, and multiple such features may be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar configurations, and redundant description thereof is omitted.
<Outline of Printing Apparatus>
Note that “printing” includes not only forming significant information such as characters and graphics but also forming images, figures, patterns, and the like on print media in a broad sense, or processing print media, regardless of whether the information formed is significant or insignificant or whether the information formed is visualized so that a human can visually perceive it. In addition, although in this embodiment, sheet-like paper is assumed as a “print medium” serving as a print target, sheet-like cloth, plastic film, and the like may be used as print media.
The printing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that can pull out a sheet S from a roll sheet 100 and print an image thereon. The sheet S is one continuous sheet, and the roll sheet 100 is obtained by winding the sheet S into a roll form around a cylindrical core. The roll sheet 100 particularly indicates a roll portion of the sheet S.
On the far side (rear side) of the printing apparatus 1, there is provided a roll support unit 2 that rotatably supports the roll sheet 100 with a spool shaft 101 as the center of rotation. A feeding tray 3, on which a cut sheet CS is stacked, can be selectably attached to the roll support unit 2. A user can perform printing on the cut sheet CS by attaching the feeding tray 3 to the roll support unit 2.
A discharge tray T is provided on the near side (front side) of the printing apparatus 1. The roll sheet 100 supported by the roll support unit 2 or the cut sheet CS stacked on the feeding tray 3 undergoes image printing in the process of being discharged to the discharge tray T.
An operation panel 15, which is used by the user to input various settings and commands and check information, is provided on the upper surface of the printing apparatus 1.
The printing apparatus 1 includes a drive unit 4 that rotates the roll sheet 100, and a conveyance unit 5 that conveys the sheet S or the cut sheet CS. The drive unit 4 includes a roll sheet motor 4a as a driving source, and a transmission mechanism 4b such as a gear mechanism that transmits the driving force of the roll sheet motor 4a to the spool gear of the spool shaft 101. By rotating the roll sheet motor 4a, the sheet S of the roll sheet 100 can be fed to the conveyance unit 5.
The conveyance unit 5 of the printing apparatus 1 comprises a feeding mechanism 50 on the upstream side in the conveyance direction, and a conveying mechanism 53 on the downstream side. The feeding mechanism 50 includes a feeding roller 51 and a separation roller 52. Each of the feeding roller 51 and the separation roller 52 is a rotating member provided rotatably around the X-direction axis. The separation roller 52 is pressed against the feeding roller 51 and rotates following the rotation of the feeding roller 51. The separation roller 52 does not rotate following the rotation of the feeding roller 51 unless a certain load is applied. Thus, double feed of the cut sheets CS is prevented.
The feeding mechanism 50 includes a feeding motor 50a as a driving source, and a transmission mechanism 50b such as a gear mechanism that transmits the driving force of the feeding motor 50a to the feeding roller 51. By driving the feeding motor 50a, the feeding roller 51 is rotated, and the sheet S fed from the roll sheet 100 or the cut sheet CS on the feeding tray 3 is nipped between the feeding roller 51 and the separation roller 52 and conveyed to the downstream side.
The conveying mechanism 53 includes a conveying roller 54 and a pinch roller 55. Each of the conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55 is a rotating member provided rotatably around the X-direction axis. The pinch roller 55 is pressed against the conveying roller 54 and rotates following the rotation of the conveying roller 54. The conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55 are located on the upstream side of the printing position of a printhead 7 in the conveyance direction (Y direction).
The conveying mechanism 53 includes a conveyance motor 53a as a driving source, and a transmission mechanism 53b such as a gear mechanism that transmits the driving force of the conveyance motor 53a to the conveying roller 54. By driving the conveyance motor 53a, the conveying roller 54 is rotated, and the sheet S or the cut sheet CS is nipped between the conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55 and conveyed onto a platen 11. The rotation amount of the conveying roller 54 is detected by a sensor 14. Based on the detection result of the sensor 14, the conveyance amount of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS can be specified, and the conveyed position of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS can be specified. The sensor 14 is, for example, a rotary encoder.
A lower guide member 6a and upper guide rollers 6b are provided between the feeding roller 51 and the conveying roller 54, and they define the conveyance path of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS. A sensor 13 is a sensor that detects the leading end or trailing end of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS in the conveyance direction, and a detection position 13a is set between the conveying roller 54 and the feeding roller 51.
The sensor 13 is a sensor whose output changes before and after the end of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS passes the detection position 13a. For example, an optical sensor, a reflection PI sensor, a flag-type PI sensor, or the like can be used as the sensor 13. The optical sensor includes, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The light emitting element emits light to the sheet S or the cut sheet CS, and the light receiving element receives the reflected light. The detection position 13a is set on the upstream side of a nip portion between the conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55 and adjacent to the nip portion.
The platen 11 supports the sheet S or the cut sheet CS from below, and guarantees a gap between the printhead 7 and the sheet S or the cut sheet CS. The printhead 7 is mounted on a carriage 8 and arranged to face the platen 11. The carriage 8 is supported such that it can be reciprocated in the X direction (main scanning direction) along a carriage shaft 10 serving as a scanning guide extending in the X direction. The carriage 8 is reciprocated by a driving mechanism which uses a carriage motor 16 (
The printhead 7 is provided with discharge ports (nozzles) that discharge ink. The ink is supplied to the printhead 7 from an ink reservoir 9 mounted on the carriage 8. While the carriage 8 is moved, the ink is discharged from the printhead 7 onto the sheet S or the cut sheet CS. With a discharge operation of the printhead 7 and one scanning of the carriage 8, an image for one line can be printed. By alternately repeating such image printing and intermittent conveyance of the sheet S or the cut sheet CS by the conveying roller 54 in the Y direction (subscanning direction), an image for one page can be printing on the sheet S or the cut sheet CS.
A cutter 12 is arranged on the downstream side of the printhead 7 and the platen 11 in the Y direction. The cutter 12 cuts the sheet S in the X direction. Thus, a cut sheet with an image printed thereon can be obtained from the roll sheet 100.
<Control Device>
With reference to
The control unit 20 performs display control of the operation panel 15, detection of an input operation on the operation panel 15, and a reception process of the input operation. Further, the control unit 20 controls, based on detection results of a sensor group SR, the conveyance motor 53a, the carriage motor 16, the printhead 7, the cutter 12, the feeding motor 50a, the roll sheet motor 4a, and the like. The sensor group SR includes the sensor 13 and the sensor 14.
<Control Example>
An example of control of the printing apparatus 1 by the control unit 20 will be described. A series of control operations related to image printing on the cut sheet CS will be described here.
If a print start instruction is received from the host apparatus 200, feeding control is performed in step S1. Here, as shown in
Next, printing control is performed in step S2 of
When the image printing is completed, discharge control is performed in step S3 of
<Discharge Control>
The discharge control in step S3 of
Therefore, in this embodiment, the conveyance by the conveyance unit 5 is temporarily stopped before completion of discharge of the cut sheet CS, and the cut sheet CS is held in the nip portion between the conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55. Then, it is detected whether the user has pulled the cut sheet CS, and if the pull operation is detected, the discharge is completed. Thus, the user can instruct to complete the discharge in a state in which he/she is holding the cut sheet CS. Therefore, it is possible to provide a technique capable of discharging a sheet while preventing a fall of the sheet to be discharged and reducing the burden on a user.
In step S12 of
In step S13 of
In step S14 of
In the first embodiment, the detection result of the sensor 14 is monitored to determine whether the user has pulled the cut sheet CS in the discharge direction. However, instead of this, the determination may be made by monitoring the detection result of the sensor 13. That is, if the user pulls the cut sheet CS in the discharge direction, the trailing end of the cut sheet CS passes the detection position 13a of the sensor 13. Based on this passage, the discharge completion process is performed.
In step S21 of
In step S22, the cut sheet CS is conveyed to a predetermined position, and driving of a conveyance motor 53a is stopped to temporarily stop the conveyance.
In step S23 of
A notification process is performed in step S24 of
In step S26 of
In either of the discharging process (step S14) in the first embodiment and the discharging process (step S26) in the second embodiment, driving of the conveyance motor 53a is restarted and the cut sheet CS is conveyed to the downstream side by the rotation of the conveying roller 54. However, the discharging process may be performed by simply releasing hold of the cut sheet CS by the nip portion between the conveying roller 54 and the pinch roller 55.
The conveyance unit 5 may include a discharging roller and hold the cut sheet CS with the discharging roller in the discharge control.
A conveyance unit 5 includes a discharging roller 56 and a pressing spur 57. Each of the discharging roller 56 and the pressing spur 57 is a rotating member provided rotatably around the X-direction axis. The pressing spur 57 is pressed against the discharging roller 56 and rotates following the rotation of the discharging roller 56. The discharging roller 56 and the pressing spur 57 are located on the downstream side of the printing position of a printhead 7 and on the upstream side of a cutter 12 in the conveyance direction (Y direction).
The discharging roller 56 shares the driving source of a conveying mechanism 53 to use a conveying motor 53a as the driving source, but it may include its own driving source. A transmission mechanism 53′ which replaces the transmission mechanism 53b, transmits the driving force of the conveyance motor 53a to a conveying roller 54 and the discharging roller 56. The conveying roller 54 and the discharging roller 56 rotate synchronously.
In this example, it is determined, based on the detection result of the sensor 14 that detects the rotation amount of the conveying roller 54, whether the user has pulled the cut sheet CS in the discharge direction. However, a sensor that detects the rotation amount of the discharging roller 56 may be provided, and the determination may be made based on the detection result of this sensor.
This embodiment can be combined with the second or third embodiment. When combined with the second embodiment, a sensor corresponding to the sensor 13 may be provided on the upstream side of the discharging roller 56. A sensor 17 having a detection position 17a in
In each of the first to fourth embodiments, the cut sheet CS is used as the target, but it is also possible to use a sheet S of a roll sheet 100 as the target. The sheet S is required to be cut by a cutter 12. In this case, after it is determined that the user has pulled the sheet S in the discharge direction, the sheet S may be conveyed by a predetermined amount so as to be aligned with a cutting position, and the cutter 12 may cut the sheet S. Alternatively, in an arrangement in which the sheet S is held by a discharging roller 56 and a pressing spur 57 as in
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-038123, filed Mar. 5, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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JP2020-038123 | Mar 2020 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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8292291 | Amamoto | Oct 2012 | B2 |
20110069976 | Ozawa | Mar 2011 | A1 |
20190299675 | Hattori | Oct 2019 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2011-065083 | Mar 2011 | JP |
2011-068423 | Apr 2011 | JP |
2012-234114 | Nov 2012 | JP |
2018-114648 | Jul 2018 | JP |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20210276349 A1 | Sep 2021 | US |