JP5035449B2 - Printing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing system that prints and cuts continuous paper.

  Conventionally, a printing apparatus that prints continuous paper is known. However, when continuous paper without perforations is printed and stored in a stacker or the like, it is necessary to cut the continuous paper before storing it in the stacker. . Accordingly, there has been proposed a printing system in which a cutting device for cutting continuous paper is arranged at the subsequent stage of the printing apparatus, and continuous paper printed by the printing apparatus is cut by the subsequent cutting apparatus.

  In such a printing system, a mark indicating the cutting position can be printed on the continuous paper by the preceding printing apparatus, the mark can be detected by the subsequent cutting apparatus, and the continuous paper can be cut at the cutting position indicated by the mark. There are also things.

  Note that in a printing apparatus that prints continuous paper, printing cannot be started immediately from the leading edge of the continuous paper, and a blank page on which no mark is printed is formed immediately after printing is started. Also, a blank page is formed even after printing is stopped. In particular, in the case of a printing apparatus in which a plurality of printing stations are continuously connected to perform multiple transfer, the blank page becomes longer. The subsequent cutting apparatus cuts not only the actually printed portion but also this blank page in units of page length in accordance with the size of the stacker described above.

  In addition, in a conventional printing apparatus that uses perforated paper or the like having a hole for conveyance as continuous paper and conveys continuous paper in units of pages, it conveys in units of pages from the start of the printing operation, and similarly when printing is stopped. Since it can be transported in units of pages, even if printing is temporarily stopped and printing is resumed, the blank page until it is actually printed on continuous paper will be in page length units and can always be cut in units of pages. It becomes.

  However, a printing apparatus that uses paper having no holes as continuous paper and has an undefined length of conveyance due to an acceleration error of a motor or the like cannot operate in units of page length. Therefore, a blank page formed without a mark at the time of starting or stopping does not become a page length unit.

  A printer device that prints and cuts logical pages connected to continuous paper, compares the paper length of continuous paper with the logical page length of the print job, and the comparison result shows that the paper length is the logical page length of the print job. However, this technique is not compatible with printers that do not operate on a page length basis.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-20278

  An object of the present invention is to provide a printing system capable of cutting at a suitable cutting position even when continuous paper is printed and cut.

  In order to achieve the above object, the printing system of the invention of claim 1 prints printing information on continuous paper and prints cutting information indicating a cutting position for cutting the continuous paper, and the printing means. Printing apparatus provided with a printing control means for controlling printing, cutting means for cutting continuous paper that has passed through the printing apparatus, transport means for transporting continuous paper that has passed through the printing apparatus to the cutting means, and transport means Detecting means for detecting the cutting information from the continuous paper during conveyance of the paper, and a cutting control means for controlling the cutting means so that the continuous paper is cut at a cutting position indicated by the cutting information detected by the detecting means. The print control means inserts a page with a page length equal to the print information before the print information is printed by the printing means, and the insertion And it is characterized in that the cutting information for controlling the printing means to be printed to the page.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first aspect, when the print control means prints the second print information after printing the first print information and stopping printing, When a page having a page length equal to that of the second print information is inserted before the second print information is printed, and the first print information and the second print information are continuously printed A page having a page length equal to that of the second print information is not inserted before the second print information is printed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the first or second aspect, the cutting control means performs cutting at a cutting position indicated by cutting information printed corresponding to the print information, and the insertion The cutting means is controlled so that cutting is performed regardless of the cutting position indicated by the cutting information printed on the printed page.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing system according to the third aspect, the cutting control means causes the detection means to detect the cutting information within a predetermined range on the upstream side in the conveying direction of the conveying means from a cutting position by the cutting means. If not detected, the cutting means is controlled so that the continuous paper is cut at a preset set length, and the cutting information printed on the inserted page is detected by the detecting means In this case, only the length indicated by the value obtained by dividing the value obtained by adding the page length to the interval between the last cutting position before the cutting information is detected and the cutting position indicated by the detected cutting information is divided by two. The cutting means is controlled so that the continuous paper is cut at a position upstream of the last cutting position in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is an effect that even when continuous paper is printed and cut, it can be cut at a suitable cutting position.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the printing system which concerns on the 1st-3rd embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the post-processing mechanism part provided in the post-processing apparatus. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the control system of a surface printing apparatus and a back surface printing apparatus. It is the block diagram which showed the structure of the control system of a post-processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the printing state of the continuous paper P printed with the printing system of 1st Embodiment. It is the figure which showed typically the system configuration | structure of the printing system of 1st-3rd embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the cutting process program performed with the post-processing apparatus in 1st Embodiment. FIGS. 8A to 8C are explanatory diagrams illustrating a method for determining a cutting position. FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a post-processing mechanism unit of the post-processing device according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 9B is a diagram after the post-processing device of the second embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of the process mechanism part. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the cutting process program performed with the post-processing apparatus of 3rd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing system 10 according to the present embodiment.

  The printing system 10 is a printing system 10 that can print a continuous paper P without a hole for conveyance and having no broken lines or perforations, and prints the surface of the continuous paper P. And a back surface printing device 14 for printing the back surface of the continuous paper P.

  Between the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14, a front / back reversing device 18 for reversing the front / back of the continuous paper P is disposed. The front / back reversing device 18 reverses the front / back of the continuous paper P printed by the front surface printing device 12 and conveys the reversed continuous paper P to the back surface printing device 14. The back surface printing device 14 prints the back surface of the continuous paper P conveyed from the front / back reversing device 18.

  In addition, a paper feeding device 16 is disposed in the front stage of the front surface printing device 12. The paper feeding device 16 supplies the continuous paper P to the front surface printing device 12.

  In addition, a post-processing device 30 is disposed downstream of the back surface printing device 14 via a buffer device 20. The post-processing device 30 corresponds to the cutting device of the present invention, and cuts the continuous paper P conveyed from the back surface printing device 14.

  The internal configuration of the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 is the same. As shown in FIG. 1, the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 include four color image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). This is a tandem printing apparatus provided with 22K.

  The front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 have the same configuration. In addition to the image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K, the front surface printing apparatus 12 and the back surface printing apparatus 14 are provided with a plurality of transport rollers 26. The plurality of transport rollers 26 are used to form the image forming units 22Y and 22M. , 22C, 22K, the continuous paper P is conveyed.

  The image forming units 22 </ b> Y, 22 </ b> M, 22 </ b> C, and 22 </ b> K print print information on the continuous paper P conveyed by the conveyance roller 26. Further, cutting information (hereinafter referred to as a mark) indicating a cutting position for cutting a portion where the printing information is printed is printed in the vicinity of the printing information. The marks are printed at intervals of the page length of the print information. This page length information is specified in a print job from the host device 54 described later.

  The image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K for each color each include a photoconductor, and a charging device, an exposure device, a developing device, and a transfer device are arranged around the photoconductor. With such a configuration, it is possible to print on the continuous paper P by electrophotography.

  Here, the image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K have been described as units that print by an electrophotographic method, but the printing method is not particularly limited, and for example, a unit that prints by an inkjet method may be used.

  A fixing device 24 is disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction with respect to the image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K. The fixing device 24 fixes the YMCK color toner images transferred onto the continuous paper P by the image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K. The continuous paper P is fixed by the fixing device 24 and then conveyed to a subsequent device.

  FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of the post-processing mechanism unit 72 provided in the post-processing apparatus 30.

  The post-processing mechanism 72 of the post-processing device 30 is provided with a cutting roller pair 32. A cutter blade 33 is provided on the upper roller 32a of the pair of cutting rollers 32, the continuous paper P is sandwiched while the upper and lower rollers rotate, and the continuous paper P is cut by the cutter blade 33 of the upper roller 32a. In the present embodiment, the cutting roller pair 32 is provided with only one cutter blade 33, so the length of one rotation of the upper roller 32a is the minimum cutting interval.

  The upper and lower rollers are configured to be movable in the vertical direction (a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the continuous paper P). Accordingly, when the cutting operation is not performed, the upper and lower rollers 32a and 32b are separated by moving the upper roller 32a upward and moving the lower roller 32b downward.

  Further, the post-processing mechanism unit 72 is provided with a plurality of conveyance roller pairs 36 that convey the continuous paper P to the cutting roller pair 32. Further, a sensor 34 for detecting a mark printed on a blank portion of the continuous paper P is disposed on the upstream side in the transport direction with respect to the pair of cutting rollers 32. The reading unit of the sensor 34 is arranged at both the upper and lower parts of the transport path, and detects not only the marks printed on the front surface of the continuous paper P transported on the transport path but also the marks printed on the back surface. can do.

  A stacker 38 is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction with respect to the pair of cutting rollers 32. The stacker 38 accommodates a continuous paper P (hereinafter referred to as a cut product) cut by the pair of cutting rollers 32.

  In this post-processing device 30, basically, for a portion without a mark, the continuous paper P is cut at an interval of a page length (hereinafter referred to as a set length) preset in the post-processing device 30. For the portion with the mark, the continuous paper P is cut at the cutting position indicated by the mark. However, the cutting position of the boundary portion between the portion without the mark and the portion with the mark is adjusted by a cutting method described later.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14. The front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 have the same configuration with respect to the control system.

  The front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 include a control unit 40, an operation panel 50, and a printing mechanism unit 52.

  As described with reference to FIG. 1, the printing mechanism unit 52 includes the image forming units 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K, the conveyance roller 26, and the fixing device 24, and actually prints the continuous paper P. Functions as printing means.

  The control unit 40 includes a host interface (I / F) unit 41, ROM 42, RAM 43, NVRAM 44, CPU 45, panel I / F unit 46, HDD 47, and engine I / F unit 48.

  The host I / F unit 41 is connected to the host device 54. The front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 obtain various print jobs and control signals from the host device 54 via the host I / F unit 41, and various notifications such as an error notification and a normal end notification to the host device 54. You can send messages.

  The host device 54 is a device that generates and transmits a print job and various control signals to the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14, and the print job includes print information to be printed on the continuous paper P, This includes the printing conditions for printing the print information.

  The ROM 42 stores programs executed by the CPU 45, data necessary for the processing of the CPU 45, and the like.

  The RAM 43 is used as a work memory by the CPU 45.

  The NVRAM 44 is a nonvolatile RAM, and stores a network address, a device identification ID, and the like.

  Panel I / F unit 46 is connected to operation panel 50. The CPU 45 displays a message about printing on the operation panel 50 via the panel I / F unit 46, acquires various information input from the operation panel 50, and uses it for controlling the apparatus.

  The HDD 47 stores in advance programs executed by the CPU 45, data necessary for processing by the CPU 45, and the like, and temporarily stores print information of a print job received from the host device 54.

  The engine I / F unit 48 is connected to the printing mechanism unit 52. The CPU 45 controls printing of the printing mechanism unit 52 via the engine I / F unit 48. The post-processing device 30 is connected to the engine I / F unit 48 of the back surface printing device 14. The CPU 45 of the back surface printing device 14 transmits a print start notification, a print stop notification, an error notification, and the like to the post-processing device 30 via the engine I / F unit 48.

  The CPU 45 executes a program stored in the ROM 42 or the HDD 47 to control the printing operation of the printing mechanism unit 52 in accordance with a print job or control signal received from the host device 54 or display various messages. Or processing such as sending a print completion notice or an error notice to the host device 54.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the post-processing device 30.

  The post-processing device 30 includes a control unit 60, an operation panel 70, and a post-processing mechanism unit 72.

  As described with reference to FIG. 2, the post-processing mechanism 72 includes the cutting roller pair 32, the conveying roller pair 36, the stacker 38, and the sensor 34.

  The control unit 40 includes a printing apparatus I / F unit 61, ROM 62, RAM 63, CPU 64, panel I / F unit 65, NVRAM 66, and mechanism control I / F unit 67.

  The printing apparatus I / F unit 61 is connected to the back surface printing apparatus 14. The post-processing device 30 acquires a print start notification, a print stop notification, an error notification, or the like from the back surface printing device 14 via the printing device I / F unit 61, or an error during a cutting operation with respect to the back surface printing device 14. Various messages such as a notification and a normal end notification can be transmitted.

  The ROM 62 stores programs executed by the CPU 64, data necessary for the processing of the CPU 64, and the like.

  The RAM 63 is used as a work memory by the CPU 64.

  The NVRAM 66 is a nonvolatile RAM, and stores a network address, a device identification ID, and the like. In addition, the cutting interval (set length) when cutting a portion where the mark indicating the cutting position of the continuous paper P is not printed, and the detection range from the cutting position of the continuous paper P when determining the presence or absence of the mark are also set in advance. It is set and stored in this NVRAM 66.

  Panel I / F unit 65 is connected to operation panel 70. The CPU 64 displays a message regarding printing on the operation panel 70 via the panel I / F unit 65, acquires various information input from the operation panel 70, and uses it for controlling the apparatus.

  The mechanism control I / F unit 67 is connected to the post-processing mechanism unit 72. The CPU 64 controls the cutting operation of the post-processing mechanism unit 72 via the mechanism control I / F unit 67.

  The CPU 64 executes a program stored in the ROM 62 to acquire a print start notification, a print stop notification, an error notification, etc. received from the back surface printing apparatus 14, or to the acquired print start notification or print stop notification. Accordingly, the cutting operation of the post-processing mechanism unit 72 is controlled, and various messages such as an error notification during cutting operation and a normal end notification are transmitted to the back surface printing apparatus 14.

  Next, the printing process of the front surface printing apparatus 12 and the back surface printing apparatus 14 of the printing system 10 of this embodiment and the cutting process of the post-processing apparatus 30 will be described.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a printing state of the continuous paper P printed by the printing system 10 according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the outline of the printing process of the printing system 10 will be described by explaining the example shown in FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the system configuration of the printing system 10 of the present embodiment. Here, illustration of the buffer device 20 is omitted.

A point A shown in FIG. 6 is a paper feeding start point of the paper feeding device 16. Point B is a printing start point on the upstream side of the continuous paper P in the transport direction (surface printing of the continuous paper P).
This is a sheet feeding start point of the sheet feeding device 16. Point C is a fixing unit outlet on the upstream side of the continuous paper P in the conveyance direction, and is a point at which printing on the surface is completed. Point D is a printing start point on the downstream side of the continuous paper P in the transport direction (for back side printing of the continuous paper P). Point E is a fixing unit outlet on the downstream side of the continuous paper P in the conveyance direction, and is a point at which printing on the back surface and the front surface is completed. The point F is a point where printing of the continuous paper P is guaranteed. Accordingly, what is printed by the front surface printing device 12 or the back surface printing device 14 is not considered to be completely printed if it does not pass the point F even if it passes the point C or E.

  First, in order to print on the continuous paper P, the user takes out and pulls out the end of the continuous paper P from the paper feeding device 16, and the front surface printing device 12, the front / back reversing device 18, the back surface printing device 14, the buffer device 20, And the continuous paper P is set over the post-processing device 30. In this state, the continuous paper P from B to F in FIG. 6 is a portion that cannot be printed, so this portion is a blank paper as shown in FIG. 5 (1). The length of this portion varies depending on the arrangement of each device of the printing system 10.

  Next, the user turns on a start switch (not shown) of the printing system 10 to start printing. As a result, each apparatus of the printing system 10 performs a warm-up operation, and the continuous paper P is conveyed in a state of double-sided blank paper as shown in (2) of FIG. At this time, since there is an error such as acceleration of the motor, the transport amount becomes indefinite. Further, during this period, a mark indicating the cutting position cannot be printed. When the activation switch is turned on, the post-processing device 30 starts a cutting process program for cutting the continuous paper P that has passed through the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14, and this cutting processing will be described later.

  When the warm-up operation of the printing system 10 is completed, the adjustment printing is performed in the printing system 10 of the present embodiment. In adjustment printing, an adjustment image (patch) is printed on the continuous paper P as shown in FIG. At this time, only the back side is printed in the first half of the printing, and then both the front and back sides are printed. The patches are printed asynchronously on the front and back sides, and the density and position of the printed patches are read by a sensor (not shown), and density adjustment and positional deviation adjustment are performed.

  In the adjustment printing portion, a mark indicating the cutting position can be printed. However, since this portion is not a portion where the print information of the print job is printed, it may be cut by the post-processing device 30 as long as it can be accommodated in the stacker 38, and therefore the mark may not be printed. May be. In the present embodiment, no mark is printed on the adjustment print portion. Furthermore, in this portion, the carry amount is indefinite length as in FIG. Note that this adjustment printing itself is not an essential operation and need not always be performed at the time of activation.

  After the adjustment printing is completed, the print information is printed according to the print job from the host device 54. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5 (4), a blank page (hereinafter referred to as a start separator) is inserted by the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 before the printing information is printed, An adjustment mark is printed on the start separator. The front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 according to the present embodiment operate so that a start separator having a length equal to the page length (printing interval) of print information to be printed immediately after the start separator is inserted. Note that the adjustment mark is a blank portion of the continuous paper P and is printed at the insertion start point of the start separator.

  Subsequently, the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 print the print information of the print job on the continuous paper P as shown in FIG. When there are a plurality of print jobs, the print information of the plurality of print jobs is continuously printed. In addition, a mark indicating the cutting position for the print information is also printed in a margin portion of the continuous paper P and a position for cutting the print portion of each print information. A mark for cutting the boundary position is also printed at the boundary position between the upstream end of the start separator in the transport direction and the print information of the print job.

  Here, the page length (FCB length) of each print job to be continuously printed is the same length, and the printing mechanism unit 52 is controlled so that each mark is printed at the page length interval of the print information. . In the following description, the mark for the print information is sometimes referred to as a cutting mark in order to distinguish it from the adjustment mark.

  When the 1st to Mth print jobs designated from the host device 54 are printed by the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14, the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 stop printing. When printing is stopped, the continuous paper P is conveyed to point E, which is the downstream fixing unit exit point, so that a double-sided white paper portion is generated after the print job is printed, as shown in FIG. . The length of the blank paper portion generated here is a length obtained by adding an error to the length from B to F in FIG.

  After printing is stopped and when a print job is received from the host device 54, a warm-up operation is performed in the same way as in FIG. 5 (2). Is generated.

  Further, the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14 insert a start separator as shown in FIG. 5 (8) (similar to FIG. 5 (4)), and print jobs as shown in FIG. 5 (9). Is printed (similar to FIG. 5 (5)). After printing of the print job, printing is stopped, and as shown in FIG. 5 (10), the continuous paper P is conveyed to point E which is the downstream fixing unit exit point (similar to FIG. 5 (6)).

  Here, when the start switch of the printing system 10 is turned off, the continuous paper P is transported downstream in the transport direction and discharged (see FIG. 5 (11)). The blank paper portion at the time of paper discharge also has an indefinite length as a length obtained by adding an error to the length from E to F in FIG.

  In this way, the portion where the mark is not printed and the portion where the mark is printed are connected to the post-processing device 30. As described above, since there is an error such as acceleration of the motor, the carry amount is indefinite. For this reason, the portion where the mark is not printed has an indefinite length, but the post-processing device 30 cuts the portion where the mark is not printed with a preset set length. Further, the portion where the mark is printed is cut according to the mark.

  In addition, since the cutting cannot be performed with the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32, the present embodiment starts at the boundary between the portion where the mark is not printed and the portion where the mark is printed so that the minimum cutting interval can be accommodated. A separator is inserted and controlled so that the cutting interval at the boundary portion is equal to or greater than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the cutting process program executed by the post-processing device 30.

  As described above, this cutting process is started when the start switch of the printing system 10 is turned on and printing is started. It should be noted that immediately after the activation, a blank sheet on which no mark is printed continues for a while, so that the page length set in the post-processing device 30 is cut until the mark is detected.

  In step 100, it is determined whether or not a mark is detected within a predetermined range from the cutting position where cutting is performed with the page length set in the post-processing device 30. A value of “predetermined range” for determining the presence / absence of a mark is set in the post-processing device 30 in advance. For example, a value that is the same as the size of the stacker 38 or slightly larger than the size of the stacker 38 may be set as the predetermined range. Further, a maximum value of the mark printing interval may be set in advance, and a value that is the same as or larger than the maximum value may be set as the predetermined range. If the predetermined range is set to a value larger than the maximum value, it is possible to easily cope with mark printing errors.

  If a negative determination is made in step 100, cutting is performed with a set length preset in the post-processing device 30 in step 102. After cutting, the process returns to step 100. For example, in the example of FIG. 5 described above, the portions (1) to (3) are portions where no marks are printed, so a negative determination is made in step 100 and cutting is performed at set length intervals.

  The set length is stored in the NVRAM 66 in advance. The value of the set length is not particularly limited, but may be the same value as the “predetermined range” when determining the presence or absence of the mark, or may be a value smaller than the predetermined range. The setting length may be set to an arbitrary value by the user via the operation panel 70.

  When the set length is set to the same value as the predetermined range, the sensor 34 and the cutting roller pair 32 can be disposed at substantially the same position, so that the post-processing device 30 can be made compact.

  Further, if the user arbitrarily sets the set length, the user can use the blank cut material for a desired use.

  On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step 100, the insertion position of the start separator in FIG. 5 (4) or (8) reaches the reading position of the sensor 34 of the post-processing device 30, and printing is performed on the start separator. Since the adjusted adjustment mark is detected, the cutting position of the continuous paper P is determined in step 104 so that the print portion of the print job following the start separator is appropriately cut. In the present embodiment, from the beginning of the print portion of the print job following the start separator, the mark-free portion and the mark are marked in order to ensure cutting at the position indicated by the printed mark for cutting the print portion. The cutting interval of the boundary portion of the portion where the mark exists (here, the portion from the last cutting position of the unmarked portion to the upstream end portion in the transport direction of the start separator) is less than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32 The cutting position is determined so as not to occur, and the cutting of the pair of cutting rollers 32 is controlled.

  There are various methods for determining the cutting position. Basically, if the interval from the cutting roller pair 32 to the next cutting position is not more than the minimum cutting interval of the cutting roller pair 32, cutting cannot be performed at the next cutting position. Accordingly, the continuous paper P is not cut at a position that is printed after the adjustment mark and is less than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32 on the upstream side in the transport direction from the cutting position indicated by the leading mark of the print portion of the print job. To control.

  FIGS. 8A to 8C are explanatory diagrams illustrating a method for determining a cutting position. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating an example of a cutting image in a portion where the mark is not detected in the continuous paper P on which the adjustment mark and the cutting mark for the print job are printed. As shown in FIG. 8A, the portion where the mark is not detected is cut with a set length (L1) preset in the post-processing device 30. The first mark in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper P is an adjustment mark, and a cut mark for a print job is printed after the adjustment mark. Here, the start separator and the page length of the print job are the same (L3). Further, an interval from the last cutting position of the part without the mark to the cutting position indicated by the adjustment mark is indicated by L2.

  As one method for determining the cutting position, as shown in FIG. 8B, the value obtained by adding L2 and L3 is divided by 2 in the transport direction of the continuous paper P from the last cutting position of the unmarked portion. You may employ | adopt the method of determining the upstream position only the length which a value shows as a cutting position. As a result, the boundary portion is cut at a position where it is divided in half, so that the waste paper has the same size. The page length of the print job is sufficiently long and at least about twice the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32 is secured. Accordingly, even if the length of L2 is extremely small, the continuous paper P can be cut at a position that is more than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32 from the cutting position indicated by the leading mark of the print portion of the print job. .

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8C, a length shorter than the length indicated by the value obtained by dividing L2 and L3 by 2 in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper P from the last cutting position of the portion without the mark. There is a method of determining the upstream position as the cutting position. That is, the cutting interval is made longer in the latter half than in the first half of the boundary. As a result, the next cutting mark can be prepared for cutting with a sufficient margin, so that the cutting accuracy is improved.

  Note that the position upstream of the conveyance direction by the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32 from the last cutting position of the part without the mark may be determined as the cutting position. That is, cut as soon as possible. This increases the distance to the next cutting mark and improves the cutting accuracy.

  After the cutting position is determined in step 104, in step 106, the pair of cutting rollers 32 is controlled so that cutting is performed at the determined cutting position.

  In step 108, it is determined whether or not the next mark is detected within a predetermined range from the cutting position indicated by the detected mark. If an affirmative determination is made in step 108, a cutting operation based on mark detection is performed in step 110. That is, the cutting roller pair 32 is controlled so as to be cut at the cutting position indicated by the mark. Note that, by the processing in steps 104 to 106, the cutting position before the cutting position indicated by the first mark of the print portion of the print job is a position before the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32. Cutting can be surely performed at the cutting position indicated by the leading mark of the print portion of the print job.

  After step 110, the process returns to step 108 and the above process is repeated. In the example of FIG. 5 described above, the cutting by the mark detection is performed in the printing portion by the print job of (5) or (9).

  On the other hand, if a negative determination is made in step 108, the process proceeds to step 112 and cutting is performed with a page length preset in the post-processing device 30. For example, in the example of FIG. 5 described above, the process of step 112 is performed in the parts (6), (10), and (11). After cutting, it is determined in step 114 whether or not the conveyance of the continuous paper P from the preceding apparatus is stopped. If a negative determination is made in step 114, the process returns to step 108, and cutting at a set length interval preset in the post-processing device 30 is repeated. If an affirmative determination is made in step 114, this cutting processing program is terminated. .

  In the method of inserting a start separator, printing an adjustment mark, and controlling the cutting position, the distance between the sensor 34 and the cutting roller pair 32 can be controlled without restriction, and the distance between the sensor 34 and the cutting roller pair 32 can be controlled. Therefore, the post-processing device 30 can be made compact.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the mark is not printed on the adjustment printing portion has been described as an example. However, in the case where the mark is printed on the adjustment printing portion, in the front surface printing device 12 and the back surface printing device 14, Since each mark can be printed at an interval equal to or greater than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32, the print information print information portion can be printed without any problem even if the same control is performed regardless of whether or not the adjustment print portion exists. Can be cut at an appropriate position.

[Second Embodiment]
In the second embodiment, a case where the sensor 34 for detecting a mark is arranged on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper P as compared with the sensor 34 of the first embodiment will be described as an example. Note that the overall system configuration of the printing system 10 and the configuration of the control system of the front surface printing device 12, the back surface printing device 14, and the post-processing device 30 are the same as those in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 9A is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the post-processing mechanism unit 72 of the post-processing device 30 of the first embodiment, and FIG. 9B is a post-processing device of the second embodiment. It is the figure which showed the structure of 30 post-processing mechanism part 72.

  As is clear from FIGS. 9A and 9B, the distance L between the pair of cutting rollers 32 and the sensor 34 is wider in the post-processing device 30 of the present embodiment. Note that the interval L between the pair of cutting rollers 32 and the sensor 34 in the post-processing apparatus 30 of the present embodiment is longer than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32.

  Next, the printing process performed in this embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the start separator is inserted and the adjustment mark is printed before printing the print information of the print job. In the present embodiment, the start separator is printed before the print information of the print job is printed. Is not inserted, and no adjustment mark is printed. Other than this, the printing process is executed as in the first embodiment.

  Next, the cutting process performed in this embodiment will be described. The cutting process performed in the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in the cutting position determination process in step 104 in the flow of the cutting process described with reference to FIG. 7 in the first embodiment. Other processing is performed in the same manner.

  In the present embodiment, since the distance L between the pair of cutting rollers 32 and the sensor 34 is long, a sufficient time for cutting preparation can be taken. Therefore, in step 104, a portion from the cutting position cut immediately before detecting the mark to the cutting position indicated by the detected mark is set as a boundary portion, and the cutting interval is the minimum of the cutting roller pair 32 at this boundary portion. The cutting position of the pair of cutting rollers 32 is determined so as not to be less than the cutting interval.

  If the last cutting interval of the boundary portion is equal to or longer than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32, the cutting interval may be longer or shorter than the page length (set length) preset in the post-processing device 30. good. When it is long, the number of times of cutting can be reduced, and when it is short, it can be cut efficiently.

  Furthermore, if the length of the boundary portion is equal to or smaller than the size of the stacker 38, the cutting roller pair 32 is cut from the time when the mark is detected until the cutting is performed at the cutting position indicated by the detected mark. May be stopped. As described above, since the interval L between the pair of cutting rollers 32 and the sensor 34 is longer than the minimum cutting interval of the pair of cutting rollers 32, the mark indicated by the mark indicates the portion where the print information of the print job is printed. Can be cut reliably at the position.

[Third Embodiment]
In the first and second embodiments, an example of printing and controlling without distinguishing marks at all has been described, but in this embodiment, a plurality of types of marks are prepared, and according to the types of marks, An example in which the storage position when the cut material cut by the pair of cutting rollers 32 is stored in the stacker 38 will be described. Hereinafter, the process of shifting the storage position of the cut material is referred to as an offset process.

  The configuration of the printing system 10 of the present embodiment is the first except that an offset device (not shown) for performing an offset process on the post-processing device 30 is provided between the pair of cutting rollers 32 and the stacker 38. This is the same as the second embodiment and the second embodiment. However, the CPU 64 of the post-processing device 30 of the present embodiment controls the offset device so that the storage position of the cut material with respect to the stacker 38 is shifted in accordance with the mark detected by the sensor 34.

  The printing process performed in the present embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the start separator is inserted and the adjustment mark is printed before the print information of the print job is printed. For example, the shape of the adjustment mark is changed to the print job print information. Different from the shape of the mark for cutting the printed part. In the present embodiment, the shape of the adjustment mark is set as a shape for performing the offset operation.

  Next, the cutting process performed in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of the cutting process program executed by the post-processing apparatus 30 of the present embodiment.

  The processing from step 200 to step 210 is the same as the processing of steps 100 to 110 in FIG. 7 of the first embodiment or the second embodiment, and the processing of steps 216 to 218 is the same as that of the first embodiment. Since this is the same as the process of steps 112 to 218 in FIG. 7 of the second embodiment or the second embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  In this embodiment, after the cutting operation by the mark detection in step 210, it is determined in step 212 whether or not the shape of the mark is an offset operation mark. If the shape of the mark is a shape set as an offset operation mark, an affirmative determination is made in step 212, and the offset device is caused to execute an offset operation in step 214. Thereby, it becomes easy to discriminate the cut material, and it becomes easy to sort the cut material.

  If a negative determination is made in step 212, or after step 214, the process returns to step 208.

  In the present embodiment, the example in which the shape of the adjustment mark is set as the shape for performing the offset operation has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the shape of the cutting mark for the print information is offset. It is good also as a shape.

  Even when the adjustment mark is not printed as in the second embodiment, the offset process can be performed by changing the shape of the mark. For example, for a print job that is continuously printed, a mark having the same shape is printed. For a print job that has been temporarily stopped and restarted, a mark having a different shape is printed. At 30, the offset processing is performed according to the shape of the mark. Such a process can be similarly performed even when the adjustment mark is printed as in the first embodiment.

  Furthermore, the offset amount may be varied according to the shape of the mark.

  Although an example in which the shape of the mark is changed has been described here, the present invention is not limited to this, and the color of the mark, the size of the mark, and the like may be changed.

  In the first to third embodiments, the description has been given by taking as an example a system in which two printing apparatuses are connected to print on continuous paper. However, the number of printing apparatuses may be one, or three or more. May be.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Printing system 12 Front surface printing apparatus 14 Back surface printing apparatus 30 Post-processing apparatus 32 Cutting roller pair 33 Cutter blade 34 Sensor 36 Conveying roller pair 38 Stacker 40 Control part 52 Printing mechanism part 60 Control part 72 Post-processing mechanism part

Claims (4)

A printing unit that prints printing information on continuous paper and prints cutting information indicating a cutting position for cutting the continuous paper; and a printing apparatus that includes a printing control unit that controls printing of the printing unit;
Cutting means for cutting the continuous paper that has passed through the printing apparatus, transport means for transporting the continuous paper that has passed through the printing apparatus to the cutting means, and detection for detecting the cutting information from the continuous paper during transport of the transport means A cutting device comprising a cutting control means for controlling the cutting means so that the continuous paper is cut at a cutting position indicated by the cutting information detected by the detecting means,
The printing control unit inserts a page having a page length equal to the printing information before the printing information is printed by the printing unit, and the cutting information is printed on the inserted page. And a printing system for controlling the printing means. When printing the second print information after printing the first print information and stopping the printing, the print control means before the second print information is printed, the second print information is printed. Insert a page with a page length equal to the print information of
When the first print information and the second print information are printed continuously, a page having a page length equal to the second print information is not inserted before the second print information is printed. The printing system according to claim 1.   The cutting control means performs cutting at a cutting position indicated by the cutting information printed corresponding to the print information, and performs cutting regardless of the cutting position indicated by the printed cutting information for the inserted page. The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the cutting unit is controlled so as to be displayed.   If the cutting information is not detected by the detection unit within a predetermined range upstream of the conveyance unit in the conveyance direction from the cutting position by the cutting unit, the cutting control unit is configured to set the continuous paper at a preset set length. When the cutting information printed on the inserted page is detected by the detecting means, the last cutting position before the cutting information is detected is controlled. And the cutting position indicated by the detected cutting information by a length indicated by a value obtained by dividing the value obtained by adding the page length by 2 on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper from the last cutting position. The printing system according to claim 3, wherein the cutting unit is controlled so that the continuous paper is cut at a position.

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