JPS6221156B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a date printing device, more specifically,
It relates to a device for printing dates on tickets, coupon tickets, etc. in automatic ticket gates, automatic payment machines, etc. Prior Art and Its Problems FIG. 1 shows an outline of a date printing device installed in the ticket conveyance path of an automatic ticket gate. Here, the term "ticket" includes all tickets applicable to automatic ticket gates, such as train tickets and coupon tickets. A ticket usually has two sides: one side (this is called the front) on which visible information such as the boarding section, issuing station, fare, and date is printed, and the other side (this is called the back) that has a magnetic layer and the above information is magnetically recorded. It has There are two sets of printing devices on the ticket transport path 1, and these are composed of date printing heads 11, 21 and pressure plates 12, 22, which are arranged at opposing positions with the ticket transport path 1 in between. One printing device, consisting of a head 11 and a press plate 12, prints the date on the ticket 2 that has been inserted face up, and when the ticket 2 stops at the position shown by the solid line, it The rear end is connected to the head 11 and the pressing plate 12.
Print the date on the front of ticket 2 between The other printing device is configured to hold the front end of the ticket 2 in the conveyance direction between a head 21 and a pressing plate 22 and print the ticket 2 when the ticket 2, which has been carried in with its back facing up, reaches the position shown by the broken line and stops.
Print the date on the table. The pressure plates 12, 22 are moved in the direction of the heads 11, 21, for example by a solenoid. The front and back sides of the ticket 2 are determined by reading a magnetic head (not shown) disposed midway through the conveyance path 1. The date is printed on the ticket 2 by using recording paper that changes color when heat is applied (hereinafter referred to as thermal paper), and by contacting this recording paper with a thermal printing head that generates a heat distribution in the shape of the date. A thermal printing method is used. Therefore, the surface of the note 2 is made of thermal paper, and the heads 11 and 21 are thermal printing heads. The example of the printing surface of the head 11 is the second example.
It is shown in Figures a and 2b. Head 11
In the figure, a large number of heating resistor segments are arranged in four digits, forming numbers in a segmented manner (see Fig. 2a). Each digit is composed of seven rod-like segments a to g and one dot-like segment p (see Figure 2b). Segment p represents a period and does not necessarily have to be used. There are two ways to insert ticket 2 face up. As shown in Figures 3a and 3b, both ends of the ticket 2 in the longitudinal direction (conveying direction) are
Represented by a and 2b. Figure 3a shows a case where one end 2b of the ticket 2 is inserted first, and this end 2b is in the front direction in the conveyance direction (this is called the forward direction).
It is. FIG. 3b shows a case where the other end 2a of the ticket 2 is inserted first, and this end 2a is placed forward in the conveyance direction (this is referred to as the reverse direction). Information other than the date printed (or printed) on the surface of the ticket 2, such as the character a "coupon ticket", is always printed in such a direction that it can be read correctly with the end 2a facing up. However, thermal printing head 1
1, the number representing the date is always printed in a fixed direction with respect to the direction of transport of ticket 2, so the date printed on ticket 2 (represented by d1 and d2, respectively) is based on the direction of transport of ticket 2. If so, their directions will match, but if ticket 2 is used as a reference, the directions will be opposite when ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction and when it is inserted in the reverse direction. The printing location is also on the end 2a on one side (Fig. 3a) and on the other side (Fig. 3b).
In the figure), the end portion 2b is different from each other. Therefore, if ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction (3a.
(Fig. 3b), the orientation of the character a and the date d1 are the same, but when the ticket 2 is inserted in the opposite direction (Fig. 3b), the orientation of the character a and the date d2 are opposite to each other. In this way, if the direction of the letter a etc. on the ticket 2 and the date d2 are reversed, there is a problem that it is very difficult to read. The problem lies in the fact that the orientation of the character a etc. pre-printed on the front side of ticket 2 and the date d2 printed after it is inserted into the automatic ticket gate does not match, so in order to solve this problem. There are several ways to do this. The first method is to print the date d1 along with the letter a after the ticket 2 is inserted into an automatic ticket gate, without printing the letter a etc. on the ticket 2 in advance. However, it may not be possible to adopt this approach across the board. This is because then no information is pre-printed on ticket 2, and ticket 2
This is because the front side of the ticket becomes blank, and even the type of ticket 2 becomes unknown. The characters that can be printed on the ticket 2 along with the date will be limited. The second method is to eliminate the directionality of the characters on the ticket 2. For example, the words "coupon ticket" shown in FIG. 3a or 3b are printed symmetrically in advance in two locations, one in the forward direction and one in the reverse direction. As a result, when the ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction, the direction of the date d1 printed matches the direction of one of the characters, and the date d2 printed in the reverse direction
The orientation of will match the orientation of the other character. However, in order to print the letters symmetrically on the small ticket 2, the letters have to be made small, making them difficult to read, and the number of letters increases, making the information on the ticket 2 complicated. is inevitable. For example, the ticket processing method described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 51-89500 employs both the first and second methods described above. The ticket includes the boarding station (for example, "A
station") and the date are printed in the same direction inside the automatic ticket gate. Price information (for example, "from 50 yen") is
It is pre-printed symmetrically in different orientations on both sides of where the boarding station is printed, so that no matter which direction the boarding station is printed, it can be read as "50 yen from A station." Further, other characters (for example, the words "coupon ticket", expiration date, serial number, etc.) are preprinted in other locations on the ticket in other orientations. Printing and printing information on tickets are recorded in various directions and in various ways, and there is no unified view and the information is quite complex. Summary of the Invention Purpose of the Invention This invention provides a third method for simplifying the arrangement and arrangement of information on a card to make it easier to read.
In other words, the present invention provides an apparatus that realizes a method of printing a date to be recorded later on a recording medium such as a ticket in relation to the orientation of characters already printed. Structure, Operation, and Effects of the Invention A date printing device according to the present invention includes a print head including a plurality of printing elements arranged so as to be able to print numbers representing a date in two directions, one in the forward direction and the other in the reverse direction. A means for determining the orientation of a recording medium on which characters are recorded by reading orientation determination information provided in advance on the recording medium, and a number of orientations that match the orientation of the characters based on the orientation determination result. The present invention is characterized by comprising means for selecting and driving the printing element so as to print. The device of this invention has numbers representing dates in order,
A printhead is provided with a plurality of printing elements arranged for printing in two opposite orientations. The orientation of the input or inserted recording medium is determined by the orientation determination means based on reading orientation determination information provided in advance on the recording medium. Based on the result of this determination, the printing elements of the printing head are selectively driven by the driving means so as to print numbers representing the date in an orientation that matches the orientation of the characters on the recording medium. As a result, the dates are printed in an orientation that matches the orientation of the characters previously recorded on the recording medium. According to this invention, the direction of the characters already printed on the recording medium is respected and the date is printed in accordance with the orientation of the characters, so the characters on the recording medium and the date are in the same direction, which is extremely Easy to read.
Further, since there is no need to print the characters along with the date later as in the first method described above, it is possible to print the required characters on the recording medium in advance. Furthermore, unlike the second method, it is not necessary to print the same characters in two directions, forward and reverse, on the recording medium, so the arrangement and arrangement of information on the recording medium can be simplified. It becomes a recording medium that is easy to view from a point of view. DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In this embodiment, the print head described above is embodied in a thermal print head 11. Thermal printing head 11 includes heating resistor segments a-g, p, which correspond to the printing elements described above (see FIG. 4). The recording medium is a ticket such as a train ticket or a coupon ticket. The means for determining the orientation of the recording medium includes a magnetic head provided on the ticket conveyance path and reading data magnetically recorded on the back side of the ticket;
An electronic circuit such as a central processing unit (CPU) that performs judgment processing based on the read signal of this magnetic head.
It is composed of. Furthermore, means for selectively driving the printing elements of the printing head are shown in FIG.
It is realized by a drive circuit including a NOT circuit 15 and a CPU. An example of the processing procedure of this CPU is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the present invention is applied to an automatic ticket gate, and the structure of the ticket conveyance path of this automatic ticket gate is as shown in FIG. 1, and the structure of the thermal printing head is also as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. As shown in the figure. FIG. 4 shows a drive circuit for the thermal printing head 11. As shown in FIG. As mentioned above, thermal print head 11 includes segments representing four digit numbers. The segment group of each of these digits is indicated by 13. The heating resistor segments a to g and p of each segment group 13 are represented as resistors, and one terminal of these segments a to p is commonly connected to each segment group 13, and each digit designation signal are connected to input terminals 30 to 33, respectively. Also,
Segments a to p of each group 13 are diodes 14
Segments of the same type are connected to each other via a NOT circuit 15, and are connected to print signal input terminals 40 to 47 for each segment via a NOT circuit 15. For example, when printing the number 1234 representing the date, the digit designation signal and print signal as shown in FIG.
~47 added. A constant voltage (for example, 24 V) is sequentially switched and applied from the segment group 13 of the first digit to the segment group 13 of the fourth digit at regular intervals (for example, 20 ms) according to the digit designation signal, and The print signal of the segment to be heated becomes "L" level during the voltage application time period of each digit. For example, 4 is segment b, c, f, g
Since printing is performed by heating the input terminals 41, 42, 45, and
The input signal becomes "L" level. In this example,
Segment p is not heated at all, but may be heated if necessary. The above are the waveforms of each signal when the ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction. When the ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction, as shown in FIG. 6a, as shown in FIG.
The date 1234 is printed on the edge 2a in the same direction as the letters. According to this invention, when the note 2 is inserted in the opposite direction, the same thermal printing head 11 prints the date 1234 on the edge 2b in the same direction as the characters, as shown in FIG. 6b. . For this purpose, conversion of the digit designation signal and conversion of the print signal are performed. Only the first and fourth digits and the second and third digits are converted respectively. Regarding the print signal, the positions of the segments heated for printing are exactly reversed vertically and horizontally. For example, when printing 1, segments b and c are heated in the forward direction, whereas segments e and f are heated in the reverse direction. Regarding 4, segments b, c, f, and g are heated in the forward direction, whereas segments c, g are heated in the reverse direction.
e, f, and g are heated. Considering both the digit designation signal and the print signal, the first digit 4 in the forward direction
In the group of segments representing
f, g are heated, but in the opposite direction, the same segment group represents 1, so segments e, f
is heated. Whether the ticket 2 is inserted in the forward direction or in the reverse direction is determined based on the output signal of a magnetic head installed in the ticket conveyance path 1 that reads magnetic data written on the back side of the ticket 2. can do. Since conversion of print signals in forward and reverse directions is complicated, it is better to create a table in advance and store it in memory. The print signal for each segment a to p is expressed in binary numbers, with the "L" level of the print signal being 1 and the "H" level being 0. and,
As shown in FIG. 7, the print signals of segments a to d are considered to be 4-digit binary numbers, which are converted into hexadecimal numbers and used as the first digit. Similarly, the print signals of segments p to e are considered to be 4-digit binary numbers, which are converted into hexadecimal numbers and used as the second digit. As a result, the print signals of segments p to a are represented by two-digit hexadecimal numbers. The two-digit hexadecimal number representing each printed number is determined in advance, and the following table is created for both forward and reverse directions. However, A to F are decimal 10
The value corresponds to ~15.

【table】

[Table] The general procedure for controlling date printing using the central processing unit (CPU) is as follows. Referring to FIG. 8, first, date data is read from a date setter, etc. (step 51) and temporarily stored in a register, etc., and then, based on the signal from the magnetic head mentioned above, the date data is read in the forward direction or It is determined whether it is in the opposite direction (step 52). If it is a forward direction, prepare digit designation signals in the order shown in FIG.
4). Then, the digit designation set in step 53 and the hexadecimal number read out in step 54 are output to a decoder (not shown) in a fixed order, and the solenoid of the pressing plate 12 is energized (step 5).
7). As a result, various signals as shown in FIG. 5 are sent to the thermal printing head 11, so that the required date is printed on the ticket 2 as shown in FIG. 6a. If it is determined in step 2 that the date is in the reverse direction, set a digit signal opposite to that in the case of the forward direction (step 55), and use the table above to calculate the 16 digits in the reverse direction for each digit representing the date.
The base number is read out (step 56), and similar printing processing is performed (step 57). Based on the above, the 6th b.
As shown in the figure, the date will be printed with matching characters and orientation. In the above example, the thermal printing head 11 that prints on the ticket 2 thrown in face up is explained, but the same applies to the thermal printing head 21 that prints on the ticket 2 thrown in face down. Needless to say, it can be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 3b are for explaining the conventional example, and Figure 1 is a layout diagram showing the ticket conveyance path and the arrangement of the date printing device, and Figure 2a is a diagram showing the printing surface of the thermal printing head. FIG. 2B is a layout diagram showing the heating resistor segments forming a part of the printing surface, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are explanatory diagrams showing a ticket with a date printed thereon. 4 to 8 are for explaining embodiments of the present invention, and FIG.
Figure 5 is a circuit diagram showing the drive circuit of the thermal printing head.
The figure is a time chart showing the operation of the drive circuit in Fig. 4, Figs. 6a and 6b are explanatory diagrams showing a ticket with a date printed on it, and Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing how the print signal is encoded. , FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the procedure of printing processing by the CPU. 2...Ticket, 11, 21...Thermal printing head, a~
f, p... Heat generating resistor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A print head including a plurality of printing elements arranged so as to be able to print numbers representing a date in two directions, one in order and the other in reverse; a record in which characters are recorded in a predetermined direction on one side; a means for determining the orientation of a medium by reading orientation determination information provided in advance on the recording medium; and a means for determining the orientation of the recording medium by reading orientation determination information provided in advance on the recording medium, and said printing means for printing an orientation number that matches the orientation of said characters based on the orientation determination result. A date printing device comprising means for selecting and driving an element.