JP2985870B2 - Printing device and print medium storage unit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape printing apparatus comprising a handy type printer unit for printing on a transparent tape and a tape unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of technology arranges an ink ribbon between a thermal head and a daisy wheel arranged opposite to a tape surface and transfers ink to the tape surface.
The method of printing was common.

[0003]

In these conventional printing apparatuses, since the printing is performed on the surface of the transparent tape, there is a problem that the printing surface is liable to be stained or to have chipped characters due to the rubbing of the tape surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve these conventional printing apparatuses, and in a printing apparatus for printing on a transparent tape, printing dirt and missing characters do not occur. It is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized printing device that can perform the printing.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A printing apparatus according to the present invention is capable of printing upright characters and inverted characters on a tape-shaped print medium. A printing head and at least the printing head are provided. Printer unit main body having control means for controlling the printing medium, a print medium storage unit detachably engaged with the printer unit main body, and storing a print medium, and the print medium storage unit mounted on the printer unit main body. Detecting means for detecting that the print medium has been mounted, and when the detecting means detects the mounting of the print medium storage unit, the control means controls the print head to perform reverse characters on the print medium and to perform printing on the print medium. Further comprises means for attaching an adhesive tape-shaped member to the printed printing medium, holding the adhesive tape-shaped member in the printing medium storage unit, and Characterized in that integrally formed a housing portion of the tape-like member and the print medium having sex.

In this case, the adhesive tape member may be configured to be detachable from the print medium storage unit.

[0007] The printing medium storage unit may include means for attaching an adhesive tape-shaped member to the printing medium.

The bonding means may be arranged such that after the printing medium and the tape-like member having the adhesive property are run in parallel, the two are bonded by a pressure bonding means.

The printing medium storage unit may include a platen that contacts the print head with the printing medium interposed therebetween.

The printing medium is preferably a transparent tape, and the adhesive tape member is preferably a double-sided adhesive tape provided with a peelable separator.

When the detection means detects the mounting of the print medium storage unit, the control means reverses the data to be printed in the vertical direction to create inverted character data,
It is desirable to drive and control the print head.

Further, the print medium storage unit of the present invention is used for a printing apparatus capable of printing inverted characters on a tape-like print medium, and includes a print head and at least the print head. Control means for controlling the printer unit, and a detecting means which is detachably engaged with the printer unit main body, and is provided in the printer unit main body, and detects that the print medium storage unit is mounted on the printer unit main body. At the corresponding position, a detection target portion is provided to indicate that the print medium storage unit is for printing a reversed character, and the print medium is stored and the adhesiveness to be attached to the printed print medium is provided. The present invention is also characterized in that the tape-shaped member is also held and is configured integrally with the storage section for the printing medium.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention, wherein 1 is a printer unit main body, 20 is a tape unit, 3 is a transparent tape, and 5 is a double-sided adhesive tape. Are respectively shown. FIG. 2A is an overall configuration explanatory view showing a schematic sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B shows a tape top view.

A driving roller 11 is pressed against a flat plate and rotated by manual linear movement.
And a thermal head 13, which is a kind of printing head, between the auxiliary rollers 12. Ink ribbon 15
Runs between the thermal head 13 and the platen, and is taken up by a take-up roller 14 interlocked with the rotation of the drive roller 11. The take-up roller 14 is connected by the drive belt 7. This rotational motion is further transmitted to the rotation detecting plate 6a of the encoder 6, and a timing signal for printing is output from the photo detector 6b. A belt 8 connects the rotation detection plate 6a and the winding roller 14.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a transparent tape holding means, 22 denotes a platen, 23 denotes a double-sided adhesive tape holding means, and the transparent tape 3 running parallel to the ink lipon 15 is in a winding state 3.
Walls 21a, 21b, 2 installed at 1 for tape protection
It is surrounded by 1C to prevent spreading.

The thermal head 13 has a plurality of heating elements arranged in a row. After the input of the print information is completed, the drive roller 11 is rotated by pulling out the tape from the tape outlet 9 in the direction of arrow B, and the thermal head 13 is selectively heated by the head control means described later. The ink of the ink ribbon 15 is transferred to the transparent tape 3 running between the platen 22 opposed to the head 13 and the thermal head 13, and characters and symbols are printed.

The surface of the printer unit 1 is a display input unit in which a liquid crystal display unit and a data input touch panel, which will be described later, are integrated, and allows input of character data and confirmation of input data.

The printer unit main body 1 detachable from the platen 22 has a detecting means 16 for detecting attachment / detachment for controlling switching between erect character printing and reverse character printing, which will be described later. Projection 2 that engages with
6 are installed. The detecting means 16 is a mechanical switch, and when the printer unit main body is mounted on the tape unit, the switch is turned on and the inverted character is selected by the head control means. Can be printed.

In the groove 23a of the opposing wall of the tape running path,
A shaft 4a provided with the roller 4 is suspended, and a double-sided adhesive tape 5 is suspended on the roller 4. The double-sided adhesive tape 5 is a traveling path of the transparent tape 3 printed by the thermal head 13. It is arranged in. Double-sided adhesive tape 5
After running in parallel with the printed transparent tape 3 from the position of the guide roller 27, it is adhered to the transparent tape by the pressing roller 28. Since the printing layer on the transparent tape 3 is sealed by the adhered member bonded to the tape base material and the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 5, it is possible to prevent rubbing from the tape surface, printing stains due to scratching, and printing defects.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the pressure-bonded portion between the double-sided adhesive tape and the transparent tape. The bonding between the transparent tape 3 and the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 5 is further ensured by a pressing means including a spring 29 for applying pressure in a direction perpendicular to the tape running path, a pressing roller 28, and a lever 30. The double-sided adhesive tape includes a double-sided adhesive portion 5b and a separator 5a, and the separator 5a can be easily peeled off from the double-sided adhesive portion. Separator 5a of double-sided adhesive tape 5
With the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 5 adhered to the transparent tape 3, the handleability of the transparent tape 3 after printing is enhanced by forming a protective structure of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. Inverted characters printed on a transparent tape can be viewed as erect characters by attaching them to various objects using an adhesive portion formed on a printing surface.

The platen 22, the transparent tape holding means 21, and the double-sided adhesive tape holding means 23 are main constituents,
The tape unit 20 is configured.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of the structure of a thermal head used in the present invention.

Numeral 40 is a base material of a thermal head, on which a glaze portion 41 is formed, and further, heating elements 42 are arranged in rows near the top. 43 is an electrode connected to the heating element, 44 is a drive IC for driving the thermal head, 45 is a sealing material for sealing the IC, and 46 is an electrode connected to the drive IC. This thermal head is fixed to a radiator plate or the like, and is installed in the printer unit main body.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the head control means of the printer unit main body 1. The detection means 16 for detecting attachment / detachment,
Thermal head 13, CPU81, ROM82, 83,
The RAM 84 is a main component. The ROM 82 stores a program for controlling the entire printer, and the ROM 83
Stores font data such as character symbols.

The CPU 81 detects the state of the detecting means 16 and makes a selection between erect character printing and reverse character printing.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams showing examples of font data printing. FIG. 5A shows an arrangement of data when printing erect characters, and FIG. 5B shows printing of inverted characters. The arrangement of the date and time is shown. The CPU 81 transfers the data d1 to d16 to the corresponding heating element on the thermal head as it is for an upright character, and d for an inverted character.
The data from 1 to d16 are inverted and transferred to the thermal head. Arrow A indicates the relative movement direction of the thermal head. CPU 81, ROMs 82, 83, RA
A switching means 80 for selecting the upright character or the inverted character by the M84 and the detecting means 16 is formed.

The printer main body is constituted by using the head control means including the switching means 80, the thermal head 13 and the ink lip 15 as main components.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of the appearance and operation of the printer unit main body 1. When the printer unit main body 1 is separated from the tape unit of the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the drive roller 11 and the thermal head 13 are pressed against flat plain paper or a transparent resin sheet, and moved in the direction of arrow A. Characters and figures can be printed directly on paper and transparent resin sheets.

Reference numeral 17 of the printer unit main body 1 is a display input unit in which a liquid crystal display unit and a data input touch panel are integrated, and enables input of print data and recognition of input data by recognition of handwritten characters.

This embodiment is a printing apparatus in which the transparent tape holding means 21 and the platen 22 are integrated with the double-sided adhesive tape holding means and the transparent tape 3 and the double-sided adhesive tape 5 pressing means. The same effect can be obtained even in a configuration in which the means and the portion of the double-sided adhesive tape holding means and the pressure bonding means are detachable.

Although the detection means 16 has been described as a mechanical switch, a reflection type photosensor which detects a reflection plate provided in a tape unit may be used.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, by producing a transparent printing tape that forms an adhesive layer on the printing surface of a reverse-printed tape, it is possible to prevent stains due to rubbing of printing when the tape is used. This is an extremely effective means for protecting against print quality deterioration such as scratching and missing printing.

Further, since the printing tape can be composed of the base material and the ink layer and the adhesive layer and the separator, an ink layer for erect character printing is formed on the adhesive layer holding tape with the separator, and the ink layer is formed on the ink layer. As compared with the method of forming a coating layer and the like, a simple tape configuration was realized, so that the cost of the tape was reduced.

The present invention provides a low-cost printing apparatus capable of automatically switching between tape printing and plain paper printing by attaching / detaching to / from a tape unit, and expanding the use of a handy type printer.

Further, since the tape unit accommodates and holds the transparent tape as the printing medium and the double-sided adhesive tape as the adhesive tape member, the handling of the tape unit can be greatly improved. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic cross-sectional view of the printing apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a top view of the tape after printing.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an example of a thermal head used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a head control unit of the printer unit main body according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of erect printing and reverse printing of font data.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of a pressure-bonded portion between the double-sided adhesive tape and the transparent tape.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the appearance and operation of the printer unit main body according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer part main body 3 ... Transparent tape 5 ... Double-sided adhesive tape 13 ... Thermal head 16 ... Detecting means for attachment / detachment detection 20 ... Tape unit 21 ...・ Transparent tape holding means 22 ・ ・ ・ Platen 23 ・ ・ ・ Double-sided adhesive tape holding means 80 ・ ・ ・ Switching means

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-135671 (JP, A) JP-A-1-135664 (JP, A) JP-A 62-85450 (JP, U) JP-A 62-109958 (JP , U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 64-44135 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Utility Model No. 1-80457 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 3/36 B41J 2/325 B41J 2/485 B41J 15/04

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing apparatus capable of printing erect and inverted characters on a tape-shaped printing medium, comprising: a printing head and a control unit for controlling at least the printing head. A print medium storage unit that is detachably engaged with the printer unit main body and stores the print medium, and a detection unit that detects that the print medium storage unit is attached to the printer unit main body. When the control unit detects the mounting of the print medium storage unit by the detection unit, the control unit controls the print head to print a reverse character on the print medium, and the printing apparatus Means for attaching an adhesive tape-shaped member to the printed medium on which printing has been performed; and A printing apparatus, wherein the tape-shaped member is held, and the adhesive tape-shaped member and a storage section for the printing medium are integrally formed. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive tape-shaped member is configured to be detachable from the printing medium storage unit. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing medium storage unit includes means for attaching an adhesive tape member to the printing medium. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bonding unit causes the printing medium and the adhesive tape-shaped member to run in parallel, and then bonds them together by a pressure bonding unit. Printing device. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a platen that contacts the print head with the print medium interposed therebetween is provided in the print medium storage unit. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing medium is a transparent tape, and the adhesive tape member is a double-sided adhesive tape having a peelable separator. 7. The control means, when the detection means detects the mounting of the print medium storage unit, reverses the data to be printed in the vertical direction to create inverted character data, and controls the drive of the print head. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing is performed. 8. A printing medium storage unit used in a tape printing apparatus capable of printing inverted characters on a tape-shaped printing medium, comprising: a printing head; and a control unit for controlling at least the printing head. Means for detachably engaging with the printer unit main body, the detecting unit being provided in the printer unit main body and detecting that the print medium storage unit is mounted on the printer unit main body. Provided with a detection unit indicating that the unit is a print medium storage unit for printing inverted characters, and has an adhesive property for storing the print medium and attaching the print medium to the printed print medium. A print medium storage unit, wherein the print medium storage unit also holds a tape-shaped member and is configured integrally with the print medium storage section.