JP5114279B2 - Control device for printing apparatus and printing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a control apparatus and a printing apparatus for a printing apparatus that performs barcode printing.

A printing apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus or an inkjet apparatus draws and prints characters, graphics, and the like with a set of points called dots. The smaller the size of the dots, the greater the number of dots that make up the characters and the like, thus enabling precise printing. The size of this point is generally expressed as a resolution.
Although depending on the type of printing apparatus, printing apparatuses having a dot density of about 100 dpi to 2400 dpi are usually commercially available depending on the application. Many printing apparatuses connected to a personal computer or the like are 600 dpi, and some of them exceed 1200 dpi. When printing barcodes with these printing apparatuses, printing is performed with a dot configuration that conforms to the standards of each barcode.
For example, the barcode standard used in the UCC / EAN-128 (Ian (European commodity code) 128) convenience store fee proxy storage system requires that the total length of the barcode including the quiet zones on both sides be within 60 mm. Yes, this consists of four types of thickness lines.
When this barcode is printed at a resolution of 600 dpi, the dot configuration of the barcode is 4 dots (0.169 mm) for both white lines (hereinafter referred to as white bars) and black lines (hereinafter referred to as black bars). ), 8 dots, 12 dots, 16 dots, and 1200 dpi, the white and black bars are generally 9 dots (0.190 mm), 18 dots, 27 dots, 36 dots, and the line width is very Printing becomes difficult due to the increasing density and density.

Conventionally, countermeasures against various problems in barcode printing such as a decrease in reading rate, a change in line width due to an increase in the number of printed sheets, and a change in reading rate due to the reflectance of paper have been proposed (for example, patents). References 1 to 3).
In Patent Document 1, as a countermeasure against a decrease in the reading rate due to line width conditions when the amount of information recorded in a predetermined barcode width increases, black bars and white bars are prevented so that the black bars are not thickened. It is disclosed that a reduction in barcode reading rate is solved by preparing a barcode font table in which bar line widths are appropriately set.
However, depending on the printing device, there are black and white bar widths that become thicker and thinner as the number of printed sheets increases, and there is a problem that a stable thickness cannot always be maintained and a reading rate is lowered. . Similarly, the width of the black-and-white bar varies depending on the surrounding environment such as temperature and humidity, and there is a problem that the reading rate is lowered.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for stabilizing the reading rate by suppressing the variation in the thickness by changing the number of dots of the black bar and the white bar according to the number of printed sheets and the environment.

Next, even if the printing device prints a barcode with the same line thickness, the reading rate may change depending on the reflectance of the paper due to the characteristics of the barcode reading device.
In Patent Document 3, the black bar is read thinly and the black bar is read thickly as the reflectivity of the paper becomes low. This leads to a decrease in the read rate. A technique has been proposed that stabilizes the reading rate by changing the number of dots in the white bar to suppress variation in thickness.
Thus, it has been found that there is a relationship between the reflectance of the paper and the barcode reading rate. As a recent usage of barcodes, barcodes are often printed on proxy storage paper, placed in an envelope, and mailed to individuals. At this time, there are those that print a black solid or halftone dot image on the opposite side (back side) of the barcode printed side (front side) so that the personal information such as the barcode and amount in the inside cannot be seen from the outside. It is increasing.
JP 2004-17399 A JP 2006-293916 A JP 2006-323446 A

However, the problem here is that, depending on the paper, the toner image printed on the surface opposite to the surface on which the barcode is printed reduces the reflectance of the white background portion of the surface on which the barcode is printed. In other words, it is increasing that the barcode cannot be read sufficiently.
Therefore, in view of the above situation, the object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the transfer material when there is print data to be printed on the surface opposite to the surface on which the barcode of the transfer material is printed. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control device for a printing apparatus and a printing apparatus equipped with the same, so as not to cause a decrease in reflectance or unevenness of the white background portion of the barcode printing surface. .

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention described in claim 1 creates print data including barcode data from image data including input barcode information, and provides the print data to the printing apparatus. In the control device of the printing apparatus, when there is print data to be printed on the surface opposite to the surface of the transfer material on which the barcode is printed, the surface on the opposite side of the barcode printing surface of the transfer material An image forming condition correcting unit that performs correction to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the image. The correction is performed by the image forming condition correcting unit, and a change in reflectance on the barcode printing surface printed by the printing apparatus is detected. It is characterized by preventing .
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image forming condition correcting means lowers the developing bias lower than usual in order to reduce the toner adhesion amount on the opposite surface of the barcode printing surface of the transfer material. The printing apparatus control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein correction is performed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the opposite surface of the barcode printing surface of the transfer material, the image forming condition correcting means is configured to output a laser output of a writing optical system. The printing apparatus control device according to claim 1, wherein correction is performed to make the laser output weaker than a laser output during normal writing.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image forming condition correcting unit thins out the original image data in order to reduce the amount of toner attached to the opposite surface of the barcode printing surface of the transfer material. The printing apparatus control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein writing is performed by a laser.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for processing print data including a barcode given from an external apparatus, the correction means for correcting the print data, and the correction data according to the corrected data. have a image printing means for printing an image, if there is print data to be printed on the opposite side with respect to the print side of the bar code of the transfer material, the opposite of the bar code printed surface of the transfer material by said correction means Correction is performed so as to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the side surface, and a change in reflectance on the barcode printing surface is prevented .

  According to the present invention, print data including barcode data is created from raw data, print data is given to a printing apparatus, and printing is performed on the surface opposite to the surface on which the barcode of the transfer material is printed. When there is print data, the image forming device is corrected so as to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material, thereby reflecting the white background portion of the surface on which the barcode is printed. It has become possible to stabilize the reading of bar codes without causing a drop in rate or unevenness.

Hereinafter, an embodiment applied to an electrophotographic printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer) which is an image forming apparatus used in the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration and operation of the entire printer according to this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the entire printer. In the printer A of FIG. 1, the peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 1 as a latent image carrier is uniformly charged to a positive or negative predetermined potential by the charging device 2 while being rotated at a predetermined peripheral speed. A scanning exposure process based on image information is performed by an image exposure apparatus 3 such as slit exposure or laser beam scanning exposure to form an electrostatic latent image.
The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor 1 is developed by the developing device 4 to become a toner image. The toner image formed on the photosensitive member 1 passes through the registration roller 6 and the conveyance guide plate 7 from the paper feeding cassette 5 and is synchronized with the rotation of the photosensitive member 1 between the photosensitive member 1 and the transfer roller 8. It is transferred by a transfer roller 8 onto a fed transfer material (not shown).
In this way, the transfer material onto which the toner image has been transferred is separated from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive member 1 and sent to the fixing device 9, where the toner image is fixed and then used as a copy (copy). Discharged outside. The surface of the photoreceptor 1 after the image transfer is cleaned by removing the transfer residual toner by the cleaning device 10, and is neutralized by a neutralization device (not shown), and used for the next image formation.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a proxy storage sheet used in the present invention. The surface 11a of the proxy storage paper 11 is a surface (barcode surface) on which a barcode is printed (printed). The paper back surface 11b is the surface opposite to the surface on which the barcode is printed, and the entire surface is printed with a toner image with black solids and halftone dots.
As a normal usage, it is often folded with the paper surface 11a on which the barcode is printed inside. Thereby, personal information such as a barcode and a money amount printed on the paper surface 11a is made invisible from the outside.
FIG. 3 is a principle block diagram showing the configuration of a printing system including a barcode printing apparatus and control apparatus according to the present invention. This printing system includes a printer A which is an embodiment of a printing apparatus of the present invention and a computer 12 which is an embodiment of a control apparatus for the printing apparatus.
The computer 12 includes a memory 13 realized by a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, a barcode data creating unit 14, a back surface printing presence / absence detecting unit 15, and an image forming condition unit 16. A printer driver 17 is connected to the printer A. This is information for printing.

In this printing system, barcode data is created by the barcode data creation means 14 based on the input image data including the barcode information, and the transfer material detected by the information on the printer driver 17 or the backside printing presence / absence detection means 15 is detected. The image forming condition means 16 corrects the image forming conditions on the back side according to the presence / absence of printing on the back side of the barcode, and gives print data to the printer A as a printing apparatus.
The printer A has a control unit 20, and this control unit 20 has a correction function for correcting print data from the computer 12, and an image printing function for printing an image in accordance with the corrected data.
The printer A includes the units shown in FIG. 1. The control unit 20 controls the entire printer A. When the barcode printing according to the present invention is realized by the printer A, the control unit 20 controls the printer A. The functions of the creating means, the detecting means, and the correcting means are performed, and the control unit 20 and the parts shown in FIG. 1 function as the printing means.
The printer A, which is a printing apparatus, processes print data including a bar code given from a computer (external apparatus) 12, corrects the print data, and prints an image according to the corrected data. If there is print data to be printed on the surface (back surface) opposite to the surface (front surface) on which the barcode of the transfer material is printed, the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material. By correcting the printer A so as to reduce the toner adhesion amount, it is possible to stabilize barcode reading without causing a decrease in reflectance or unevenness of the white portion of the barcode printing surface. Become.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the development potential and the image density. The image at this time was a black solid patch, and the image density was measured. It can be seen from FIG. 4 that the toner adhesion amount decreases and the image density decreases by lowering the developing bias to lower the developing potential.
The amount of toner attached to the surface opposite to the barcode printing (printing) surface of the transfer material is reduced by lowering the development bias than usual, which reduces the reflectance of the white background on the barcode printing surface. It is possible to stabilize bar code reading without causing unevenness.
FIG. 5 is a graph showing the relationship between the paper back surface development potential and the paper surface reflectance. FIG. 5 shows the result of measuring the reflectance of the portion of the front surface 11a on which the barcode is printed by the development potential on the back surface of the front surface 11a (FIG. 2) on which the barcode is printed (printed). Show.
It can be seen that when the developing potential of the back surface 11b is lowered, the image density is also lowered, and the density transmitted through the front surface (front surface) is also lowered, so that the reflectance of the front surface is increased. At this time, the barcode can be read if the reflectance of the paper surface (front surface) is 50% or more, but if the reflectance is 50% or less, the barcode may not be read in many cases. It was solved.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the relationship between the writing laser power on the surface of the image carrier and the image density. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the writing laser power and the image density on the surface of the photoreceptor 1 (FIG. 1) that is an image carrier. Similar to the measurement in FIG. 4, the image was a solid black patch, and the image density was measured.
It can be seen that by decreasing the laser power, the toner adhesion amount decreases and the image density decreases. This is because, by lowering the laser power, the residual potential of the photosensitive member 1 increases and the development potential decreases, so that the same result as in FIG. 4 can be obtained.
Bar code printing is performed by making the laser output of the writing optical system weaker than the laser output during normal writing as a means to reduce the amount of toner attached to the surface opposite to the bar code printing surface of the transfer material. Bar code reading can be stabilized without causing a decrease in reflectance or unevenness of the white background portion of the surface.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the laser power on the back surface of the paper and the reflectance of the white background on the paper surface. FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the laser power of the paper back surface 11b (FIG. 2) and the reflectance of the white background on the paper front surface 11a.
It can be seen that by reducing the laser power on the back surface 11b of the paper, the image density is lowered and the density transmitted through the paper surface 11a (front surface) is also lowered, so that the reflectance of the front surface is increased.
As described above, the barcode can be read when the reflectance of the paper surface 11a is 50% or more. However, when the reflectance is 50% or less, the barcode cannot be read in many cases. .
Although not shown, by thinning out the print pattern of the image data on the back side of the surface on which the barcode is printed, the development potential is substantially lowered and the toner adhesion amount is reduced. As a result, the reflectance of the paper surface 11a on which the barcode is printed can be changed, and thus the barcode can be read.
By reducing the amount of toner adhering to the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material, the original image data is thinned out and written by laser, so that the reflectance of the white background on the barcode printing surface is reduced. It is possible to stabilize the reading of the bar code without causing a drop or unevenness.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an entire printer. It is a perspective view which shows the proxy storage paper used by this invention. It is a principle block diagram which shows the structure of the printing system containing the printing apparatus and control apparatus of barcode printing of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between development potential and image density with a graph. It is a figure which shows the relationship between paper back surface development potential and paper surface reflectance with a graph. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the writing laser power in an image carrier surface, and image density with a graph. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the laser power of a paper back surface, and the reflectance of the white background part of a paper surface with a graph.

Explanation of symbols

A image forming apparatus (printer), 1 image carrier (photoconductor), 3 exposure apparatus, 4 developing apparatus, 9 fixing apparatus, 10 cleaning apparatus, 11 paper (proxy storage paper), 11a paper surface (barcode printing surface) 11b Back side of paper, 12 External device (computer), 16 Image forming condition correction means

Claims (5)

In the control device of the printing apparatus that creates print data including barcode data from the input image data including barcode information and provides the print data to the printing apparatus.
When there is print data to be printed on the surface opposite to the surface of the transfer material on which the barcode is printed, the toner adhesion amount on the opposite surface of the barcode print surface of the transfer material is reduced Image forming condition correcting means for performing correction ,
A control apparatus for a printing apparatus, wherein the correction is performed by the image forming condition correction means to prevent a change in reflectance on the barcode printing surface printed by the printing apparatus.   The image forming condition correcting unit performs a correction for reducing a developing bias to be lower than normal in order to reduce a toner adhesion amount on the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material. A control apparatus for a printing apparatus according to 1.   In order to reduce the amount of toner adhering to the opposite surface of the bar code printing surface of the transfer material, the image forming condition correction means makes the laser output of the writing optical system weaker than the laser output during normal writing. The control apparatus for a printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein correction is performed.   In order to reduce the amount of toner attached to the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material, the image forming condition correction means thins out the original image data and performs writing with a laser. The control device of the printing apparatus according to claim 1. Given from the external apparatus, a printing apparatus that processes print data includes a bar code, possess a correction means for correcting the print data, the image printing means for printing an image in accordance with the corrected data,
When there is print data to be printed also on the surface opposite to the surface on which the barcode of the transfer material is printed, the amount of toner attached to the surface opposite to the barcode printing surface of the transfer material is reduced by the correcting means. Thus, the correction is performed to prevent the reflectance from changing on the barcode printing surface .

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