JPS63153174A - Correcting method for thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid needless feeding of an ink ribbon and shorten a correction time, by calculating head turning down timing, feed quantities, head turning-up timing and energization time for a head, and sequentially performing a head turning-down operation, energization of the bead, feeding and a head turning up operation based on the results of calculation, thereby successively correcting characters. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer printer is set into a correction mode, and a sequential correction key on a keyboard 2 is. depressed a number of times corresponding to the number of characters to be corrected, starting from the end of a printed area, within a predetermined time interval. A CPU 1 calculates feed quantities for a carrier motor 7 and a paperfeeding motor 8, turning-up and turning-down driving timings for a bead turning-up/down motor 9 and energization time for a thermal recording head 4, based on data stored in a memory 3. Based on the results of calculation, the CPU 1 outpus a control signal and a driving control signal, whereby the carrier motor 7 is reversely driven, the bead 4 is lowered at the position of the first one of the characters to be corrected, and the head is pressed against a recording paper, with an ink ribbon therebetween. All heat generating elements of the head 4 are energized to generate beat to reach a predetermined temperature lower than that at the time of recording, the carrier motor 7 is driven forward, and an ink on the recording paper is sequentially absorbed by the ink ribbon, thereby successively correct the recorded characters.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is characterized in that ink transferred onto recording paper by a thermal transfer printer is heated to a predetermined temperature different from that during recording by energizing a thermal recording head. The present invention relates to an erasing method in a thermal transfer printer, in which the thermal recording head is pressed through a ribbon and the ink is absorbed onto the ink ribbon to erase the recording.

<Prior art> In general, printing with a thermal transfer printer involves applying electricity to a thermal recording head in which heating elements are lined up to generate heat according to the shape of the characters, and then using an ink ribbon with a heat-melting ink layer to connect the thermal recording head. This is done by pressing the thermal recording head against the recording paper through the ink and transferring the molten ink onto the recording paper.The thermal recording head is moved up and down while being fed horizontally, and the recording paper is fed vertically to sequentially print.

On the other hand, as a method of erasing characters printed by the above-mentioned thermal transfer printer, the entire gutter of the same thermal recording head is heated with electricity to a predetermined temperature lower than that during recording, and this head is pressed against the ink on the recording paper via an ink ribbon. A method is known in which the ink is sucked onto the ink ribbon side. Conventionally, in this erasing method, the operator moves the thermal recording head to the position of the character to be erased by operating a key, and at that position, the head is lowered, heated with electricity, and raised.
This was done by repeating character by character operations.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the conventional erasing method described above, when erasing a plurality of characters in succession, the operator must operate a key each time to move the thermal recording head. Since the screen is repeatedly moved down, energized, and up one character at a time, not only is the operation complicated, but it also takes a long time to erase, and energy is wasted in driving up and down.

In addition, because the thermal recording head repeatedly moves up and down, the ink ribbon tends to sag, and to prevent this, it is necessary to feed the ink ribbon extra even after the characters that should be erased have appeared, resulting in unnecessary feeding of the ink ribbon. , /l! i
This increases the length of time spent in the process and wastes energy.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a close-up of a thermal recording head;
To provide an erasing method for a thermal transfer printer capable of continuously erasing a series of a plurality of characters without repeating down, eliminating wasteful feeding of an ink ribbon, shortening erasing time, and eliminating wasted energy. .

<Means for solving the problem> In order to achieve the above purpose, ink transferred onto recording paper by a thermal transfer printer is heated to a predetermined temperature different from that during recording by energizing a thermal recording head. Pressing the heat-sensitive recording head through the ribbon,
The erasing method in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention involves sucking up the ink onto the ink ribbon to erase the recording. Based on key input information about the number of characters to be continuously erased and the erase start position, the central processing unit selects the thermal recording head. The head-down timing, feed amount, hend-up timing, and energization time to the head are calculated, and based on the calculation results, the thermal recording head is driven in the order of down, energization and feed, and up to print a series of multiple characters. It is characterized by continuous erasure of .

<Example> Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a control unit of a thermal transfer printer, and l is a CPU (central processing unit) that performs calculations and controls other blocks via a data bus Bd, address bus Ba, control signal bus Bc, etc. , 2 is this CPU
A keyboard 3 is used to input information regarding characters to be recorded or erased, and a pass line I3d stores programs and data related to recording and erasing.

Memory 1 communicates with the above CPUI via Ba and Bc
, 1 is a thermal recording head which has two-dimensional heating elements parallel to each other vertically and horizontally, and which transfers ink to recording paper or sucks ink from recording paper through an ink ribbon having a heat-melting ink layer by applying electrical heating and pressing. , 5 receives data signals and control signals related to recording and erasing from the CPUI, and during recording, the heating elements of the thermal recording head 4 are energized to generate heat in accordance with the character shape, and during erasing, all of the heating elements are heated at a lower temperature than during recording. This is a head controller that generates electricity to a predetermined temperature.

Further, 6 is a pass line Bd between it and the CPU 1.

A logic array 7.8°9 consisting of a combination of logic elements that exchange drive control signals via Ba and Bc is connected to each driver 104It, ! from this linear array 6. A carrier motor that drives the thermal recording head 1 in the horizontal direction, a paper feed motor that conveys the recording paper in the vertical direction, and a drive signal that moves the thermal recording head up and down with respect to the recording paper. 13 is an LCD (liquid crystal display device) driver that exchanges display control signals with the CPUI via pass lines Bd, Ba, and Bc; 14 is a driver that receives display signals from the CD driver 13; This is an LCD that displays on the screen characters such as f which are input from the keyboard 2.

The control QI of the thermal transfer printer described above operates as follows in the erase mode, when the thermal transfer printer is normally controlled in the J2 recording mode.

That is, the keyboard 2 has a sequential deletion key, a continuous deletion key, a cursor movement key for indicating the beginning of deletion, etc., and CPtJl is
The number of times the erase key is pressed down within a certain time interval is counted, and based on this count value and information stored in the memory 3, the amount of backspace from the printing end of the thermal recording head 4 and the amount of feed of the paper feed motor 8 are calculated. , calculates the head-down timing at the erase start position, the head feed amount and erasing energization time during erase, and the head-up timing at the erase end position, and based on the calculation results, the head controller 5 and the logic array 6 The above-mentioned control signal and drive control signal are respectively outputted to the thermosensitive recording head 4, and the thermal recording head 4 is driven in the order of reverse feeding, down, energization and forwarding, and up, so that the number of characters corresponding to the above count value is continuously erased.

Also, if you press the continuous erase key on the keyboard 2 and enter the number of characters to erase, that number of characters will be erased from the end of printing, or if you move the erase start instruction cursor and perform the same operation, that number of characters will be erased from the beginning. , can be erased in the same manner as described above.

An example of an erasing method using a thermal transfer printer using the control section configured as described above will be described below with reference to FIG.

(a) After setting the thermal transfer printer to the erase mode, the operator presses down the sequential erase key on the keyboard 2 by the number of characters desired to erase from the end of printing within a fixed time interval.

(b) The CPUI counts the number of times the sequential erase key is pressed and stores the count value in the memory 3.

(c) Next, CPU 1 controls carrier motor 7 and paper feed motor 8 based on the data stored in memory 3.
The amount of feed, the raising/lowering drive timing of the head raising/lowering motor 9, and the energization time to the thermal recording head 4 are calculated.

(d) The CPU outputs a control signal and a drive control signal based on this calculation result, drives the carrier motor 7 in the opposite direction in step (g), and then lowers the thermal recording head 4 at the position of the first character to be erased. and press the recording paper through the ink ribbon.

(e) Next, in this state, all the heating elements of the thermal recording head 4 are brought to a predetermined temperature lower than that during recording (Xi!). While generating electric heat, the carrier motor 7 is driven in the forward direction. As a result, the ink on the recording paper is sequentially absorbed by the ink ribbon, and the recording is continuously erased.

(v) Finally, the current supply is stopped at the erasure end position, the thermal recording head 4 is raised, and the erasure is completed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation of the thermal recording head 4 in accordance with the above erasing method. For example, when the sequential erasing key is pressed 5 times, the head 4 first moves from the print end (1) in the up state.
) as shown in the arrow to the first character position to be erased (see step (d)), then lowered, and in that state, while being energized and heated, move as shown in the arrow (2) to the end of printing (see step (d)). ), and finally the print end position is raised as shown in (3) to complete the erasing (see step (f)).

In the above erasing method, only the operation using the sequential erasing key has been described, but it goes without saying that a plurality of characters can be similarly erased successively by operating other keys.

In the above embodiment, the ink ribbon is not energized, but only the thermal recording head is energized to heat it. However, the present invention is capable of directly energizing and heating the ink ribbon via the thermal recording head. The present invention can also be applied to a so-called current transfer type thermal transfer printer that performs recording.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the above explanation, the ink ribbon is transferred onto the recording paper by the thermal transfer printer and heated to a predetermined temperature by energizing the thermal recording head to a predetermined temperature. The erasing method in the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, in which the thermal recording head is pressed against the ink ribbon to absorb the ink and erase the recording, is based on key input information about the number of characters to be continuously erased and the erase start position. Then, the central processing unit calculates the down-down period of the thermal recording head, the feed amount, the head up time, and the energization time to the head.Based on the calculation results, the thermal recording head is lowered, energized, and Since the drive is driven in the order of advance and up, a series of several characters are erased in succession, so the thermal recording head can be driven up and down.
Compared to the conventional erasing method, which repeats down for each character, there is no wasted feeding of the ink ribbon, erasing time can be shortened, and energy wasted for up and down can be eliminated, increasing the efficiency of record erasing. This greatly contributes to energy saving and energy saving.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a control section of a thermal transfer printer, FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an erasing method by the control section, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation of a thermal recording head during erasing. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... CPU, 2... Keyboard, 3... Memory, 4... Thermal recording head, 5... Head controller, 6... Logic array, 7... Carrier motor, 8
...Paper feed motor, 9...Head lift motor, +0
．． 11.12...Driver, 13...LCD driver, 14...LCD0

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) The thermal recording head is pressed onto the ink transferred onto the recording paper by the thermal transfer printer via the ink ribbon, which is heated to a predetermined temperature different from that during recording by energizing the thermal recording head. This is an erasing method for thermal transfer printers in which records are erased by absorbing the above ink onto a ribbon, and the central processing unit lowers the head of the thermal recording head based on key input information about the number of characters to be erased and the erase start position. The timing, feed amount, head-up timing, and head energization time are calculated, and based on the calculation results, the thermal recording head is driven in the order of down, energization and feed, and up to continuously print a series of multiple characters. An erasing method in a thermal transfer printer characterized by erasing.