JPH09207398A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer which, in the case of consecutive printing on a plurality of cut-sheets, is capable of shortening the time it takes until printing on the following cut-sheet starts after the finish of printing on the previous cut-sheet. SOLUTION: This printer is equipped with a sheet feed tray in which cut- sheets are stacked, and it feeds one cut-sheet from the sheet feed tray (St. 1), then feeds another cut-sheet from the sheet feed tray (St. 1) when the previous cut-sheet is carried a specific distance shorter than a cut-sheet length (St. 3), and carries the cut-sheets with the rear end of the previous one and the front end of the following one being in contact with each other in the direction where they are carried (St. 2). This prevents a gap from being made between the previous cut-sheet and the following cut-sheet.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device such as a printer, a copying machine or a facsimile which prints an image on a cut sheet based on print information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printer prints on paper based on print information. Some of such printing apparatuses use cut sheets as sheets and have a paper feed tray on which a plurality of cut sheets are stacked. This printing device separates and feeds the cut sheets stacked in a paper feed tray one by one, conveys the fed cut sheets, and prints on the cut sheets based on print information.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-mentioned printing apparatus, when printing is continuously performed on a plurality of cut sheets, the cut sheets are cut in a state in which there is an interval between the first cut sheet and the second cut sheet. Paper is fed and conveyed. Therefore, the time between printing on the first cut sheet and printing on the latter cut sheet becomes longer because the gap between the first cut sheet and the later cut sheet is open. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes a long time to print the print information on a plurality of cut sheets.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A print information storage section for storing print information, a cut sheet storage section for stacking a plurality of cut sheets, a rear end portion of the preceding cut sheet in the conveyance direction and a front end portion of the subsequent cut sheet in the conveyance direction. A sheet feeding and conveying unit that feeds and conveys the cut sheet from the cut sheet storage unit in a contact state, and a trailing end portion of the first cut sheet in the conveyance direction and a rear cut sheet based on the print information. The printing unit prints on the cut sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding / conveying means in a state of being in contact with the leading end portion in the conveying direction. Therefore, in a state where the trailing end portion of the preceding cut sheet in the conveying direction and the trailing end portion of the succeeding cut sheet in the conveying direction are in contact with each other, the cut sheet is fed from the cut sheet storage section and fed by the feeding and feeding means. The printing unit prints on the cut sheets based on the print information. In this way, when multiple sheets of cut paper are transported with the gap between the first and second sheets of cut paper not being opened, the first sheet of The time required from printing on paper to printing on subsequent cut paper is shortened. Therefore, it takes less time to print the print information on the plurality of cut sheets.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus according to the first aspect, a blank portion is formed between the print information printed on the first cut sheet and the print information printed on the second cut sheet. The printing unit is provided with white-space information inserting means for inserting white-space information, and the printing section is based on the print information in which the white-space information is inserted by the white-space information inserting means, and a rear end portion and a rear end portion in the conveying direction of the preceding cut sheet. The operation of printing on the cut paper conveyed by the paper feed conveying means is continuously performed in a state where the front end portion of the cut paper in the conveying direction is in contact with the cut paper. Therefore, when multiple cut sheets are conveyed in a state where the gap between the first cut sheet and the second cut sheet is not open, the print information printed on the first cut sheet and the print information printed on the second cut sheet are printed. The blank information forming the blank portion between the blank information and the printing information is inserted by the blank information inserting means, and the conveyance direction of the preceding cut paper is based on the print information in which the blank information is inserted by the blank information inserting means. The operation of printing on the cut sheet is performed by continuously performing the operation of printing on the cut sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding / conveying means in a state where the rear end portion and the front end portion in the conveying direction of the rear cut sheet are in contact with each other. There is no need to start and stop every cut sheet. Therefore, it becomes easy to control the operation of printing the print information on the cut sheet.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An outline of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment is shown in FIG. At the bottom of the printer main body 1, a paper feed unit 3 for feeding the cut paper 2 and a print unit 4 for printing print information on the cut paper 2 fed by the paper feed unit 3 are arranged. . On the upper part of the printer main body 1, there is arranged a paper discharge unit 5 for discharging the cut paper 2 on which the print information is printed by the print unit 4. In the printer body 1,
A transport unit 6 that transports the cut sheet 2 from the paper feeding unit 3 through the printing unit 4 to the paper discharging unit 5 is formed.

The paper feed unit 3 is provided with a paper feed tray 7 which is a cut paper storage unit in which the cut papers 2 are stacked. Above the leading end of the paper feed tray 7 in the paper feed direction, the uppermost cut sheets 2 stacked on the paper feed tray 7 are stacked.
A paper feed roller 8 for feeding paper is provided.

The print section 4 is provided with a print start sensor 9 for detecting that the leading edge of the cut sheet 2 has been conveyed to the print section 4.

The carrying section 6 is provided with a pair of carrying rollers 10 on the upstream side and the downstream side of the printing section 4 in the carrying direction of the cut sheet 2.

Next, the electrical hardware configuration of the above-mentioned printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The printing apparatus described above is provided with a CPU 11 that controls the operations of the paper feeding unit 3, the printing unit 4, and the conveying unit 6 described above. The CPU 11 includes a paper feed / conveyance drive unit 1 for rotationally driving a paper feed / conveyance motor 12 connected to the paper feed roller 8 and the conveyance roller 10.
3 are connected via a bus 14. CPU 11
Is connected to the I / O port 15 via the bus 14. The I / O port 15 is connected to, for example, a keyboard 16 for inputting the number of prints and commands for enlarging and reducing, and the print start sensor 9. CPU 11
An external interface 17 to which print information is input from an external device such as an image reading device (not shown) is connected to the printer via the bus 14. The CPU 11 has, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD: Liq) on which information such as the number of prints input from the keyboard 16 is displayed.
A uid crystal display) 18 is connected via the bus 14. The CPU 11 temporarily stores various commands input from the keyboard 16 and print information input from the external interface 17, for example.
The operation of the AM 19, the print buffer 20 that expands the print information temporarily stored in the RAM 19 when the print information is printed on the cut sheet 2, and the operations of the paper feed unit 3, the print unit 4, and the transport unit 6 described above. R where the program is stored
The OM 21 is connected via the bus 14. The RAM 19 and the print buffer 20 described above constitute a print information storage unit.

Further, the above-mentioned printing apparatus is provided with a sheet feeding and conveying means and a blank information inserting means which will be described later. The sheet feeding / conveying means is controlled by the CPU 11 based on a program stored in the ROM 21 to feed the sheet feeding section 3.
And the conveyance part 6 operates and is performed. The blank information insertion means is executed by the CPU 11 based on a program stored in the ROM 21.

In such a configuration, first, the operation of the printing apparatus when the number of cut sheets 2 to be printed is one will be described. When a start key (not shown) is pressed, the paper feeding / conveying drive unit 13 drives the paper feeding / conveying motor 12 to rotate the paper feeding rollers 8 and 10 so that the uppermost cut sheets stacked on the paper feeding tray 7 are cut. One sheet of 2 is fed and conveyed. At this time, the print information temporarily stored in the RAM 19 is expanded in the print buffer 20. When the print start sensor 9 detects that the leading edge of the cut sheet 2 has been conveyed to the printing unit 4, the print information developed in the print buffer 20 is printed line by line on the cut sheet 2, and the cut sheet 2 is cut. The print information printed on is discarded line by line. After that, when all the print information developed in the print buffer 20 is printed on the cut sheet 2, the cut roller 2 is conveyed by the conveying roller 10 and is discharged to the discharge section 5.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus when the number of cut sheets 2 to be printed is plural will be described. When a start key (not shown) is pressed, it is determined whether the number of cut sheets 2 to be printed is one or more. When it is determined that the number of cut sheets 2 to be printed is plural, the sheet feeding unit 3 sequentially feeds the plurality of cut sheets 2 and expands the print information in the print buffer 20. When the print start sensor 9 detects that the leading edge of the first cut sheet has been conveyed to the printing unit 4, the operation of printing the print information developed in the print buffer 20 on the cut sheet 2 is started. After that, until all the cut sheets 2 fed by the sheet feeding section 3 pass through the printing section 4, the operation of printing the print information developed in the print buffer 20 on the cut sheet 2 is continuously performed, and the print information is printed. The cut sheet 2 printed with the print information developed in the buffer 20 is sequentially conveyed and discharged.

Based on FIG. 1, the cut paper 2 is fed by the paper feed unit 3.
The operation of feeding paper will be described. First, the paper feed / conveyance drive unit 13
By this, the paper feed / conveyance roller 12 is driven and the paper feed roller 8 and the conveyance roller 10 rotate, and one sheet of the cut paper 2 of the uppermost layer stacked on the paper feed tray 7 is fed (step St.
1) and carry (step St. 2). After that, the number of rotations of the transport roller 10 is measured, and it is determined whether or not the cut sheet 2 has been transported by a predetermined distance (step St. 3). The predetermined distance is set shorter than the length of the cut sheet 2. When it is determined that the cut sheet 2 has not been conveyed by the predetermined distance (NO) in the above-mentioned step 3, the above-mentioned step 2 and step 3 are repeatedly performed and the cut sheet 2 is cut.
Is transported.

Then, in step 3 described above, it is determined that the cut sheet 2 has been conveyed by a predetermined distance (YES).
Then, it is determined whether or not the cut sheets 2 have been fed by the sheet feeding unit 3 by the number of cut sheets 2 to be printed (step S).
t. 4). Cut sheet 2 to be printed in step 4
If it is determined that the cut sheets 2 have not been fed by the sheet feeding unit 3 by the number of the above (NO), the above-described operations of step 1 and after are repeatedly performed, and the rear end portion of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the transport direction is detected. The cut paper 2 is fed from the paper feed tray 7 before being pulled out from the paper feed tray 7, and the rear end portion of the front cut paper 2 in the transport direction and the front end portion of the rear cut paper 2 in the transport direction have a predetermined area. The cut sheets 2 are fed and conveyed in the overlapping state.

In steps 1 to 4 described above, the cut sheet 2 is fed in such a manner that the trailing end portion of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction and the leading end portion of the subsequent cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction overlap by a predetermined area. Then, the operation of carrying the sheet is carried out as an operation of the sheet feeding and carrying means.

Thereafter, when it is determined in step 4 that the cut sheets 2 have been fed by the sheet feed 3 by the number of the cut sheets 2 to be printed (YES), the sheet feeding operation ends.

Next, the operation of expanding the print information in the print buffer 20 will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether or not the print buffer 20 has a free space (step St. 5). The print information expanded in the print buffer 20 is discarded when the cut paper 2 is printed, as in the case where the number of cut papers 2 to be printed is one. Therefore, if it is determined in step 5 that there is no free space in the print buffer 20, the print information expanded in the print buffer 20 is printed on the cut sheet 2 and discarded until step 5
Is repeated.

The print buffer 2 in step 5 described above.
When it is determined that there is a vacancy in 0 (YES), it is determined whether or not the portion where the print information is expanded is the leading margin portion (step St. 6). The leading margin portion is a blank sheet portion formed at the tip portion of each cut sheet 2.

When it is determined in step 6 that it is the leading margin portion (YES), the blank information for forming a blank portion on the cut sheet 2 is developed in the print buffer 20 (step St. 7). The number of lines of the blank information developed in the print buffer 20 in step 7 is set in advance for the leading margin portion of the first cut sheet 2, but the leading margin of the second and subsequent cut sheets 2 is set. In the case of a set, it is determined by the distance of the cut sheet 2 conveyed in the above-mentioned steps 2 and 3.

Then, step 5 and step 6 described above.
If it is determined that the leading margin portion is not present (NO) in step 6 described above, it is determined whether the line is a printable line (step St. 8). The number of printable lines is determined by the distance of the cut sheet 2 conveyed in the above-mentioned step 2 and step 3.

If it is determined in step 8 that the line is printable (YES), the print information for one line is expanded (step St. 9). And cut paper 2
It is determined whether or not all the print information to be printed on the printer has been expanded in the print buffer 20 (step St. 10).

When it is determined in step 10 that all the print information to be printed on the cut sheet 2 is not expanded in the print buffer 20 (NO), the above-mentioned steps 5, 6, 6, 8, 9 and 10 are executed. The operation is repeated and the print information is expanded in the print buffer 20.

After that, if it is judged in the above-mentioned step 8 that the line is not a printable line, the operations of the above-mentioned steps 5 and 6 are carried out, and in the above-mentioned step 6, it is judged that it is the leading margin portion, and the above-mentioned step is executed. Two
Then, in step 3, blank information corresponding to the number of lines determined by the distance of the cut sheet 2 conveyed is developed in the print buffer 20. Then, the operations from step 5 onward are repeated, and blank information is inserted between the print information printed on the first cut sheet 2 and the print information printed on the second cut sheet 2.

The operation of inserting the blank information between the print information printed on the first cut sheet 2 and the print information printed on the second cut sheet 2 in the steps 5 to 10 is the blank information insertion. It is performed as an operation of the means.

As described above, the cut sheet 2 is fed with the rear end portion of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction and the rear end portion of the rear cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction being overlapped by a predetermined area. While being conveyed, the print information is developed in the print buffer 20 in a state in which the blank information is inserted between the print information printed on the first cut sheet 2 and the print information printed on the second cut sheet 2. Then, based on the print information developed in the print buffer 20, the cut sheet 2 that is conveyed in a state where the trailing end portion of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction and the leading end portion of the subsequent cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction are in contact with each other. The operation to print on is continuously performed.
As a result, a plurality of cut sheets 2 can be conveyed in a state in which the gap between the first cut sheet 2 and the second cut sheet 2 is not opened, and therefore, when the plurality of cut sheets 2 are continuously printed. In addition, the time taken from the start of feeding the first cut sheet 2 to the discharge of the last cut sheet 2 is shortened.
Therefore, the time required to print the print information on the plurality of cut sheets 2 is shortened. Further, it is not necessary to start the operation of printing on the cut sheet 2 for each cut sheet 2 and stop it.
Therefore, it becomes easy to control the operation of printing the print information on the cut sheet 2.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the rear end portion of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction and the rear end portion of the rear cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction are in contact with each other.
The state in which the rear end portion in the transport direction and the front end portion in the transport direction of the rear cut sheet 2 overlap with each other by a predetermined distance has been described. 2 is in contact with the rear end portion of the conveying direction, the rear end of the preceding cut sheet 2 in the conveying direction and the rear cut sheet 2
It may be in a state in which the tip of the sheet in the conveyance direction is attached.

[0028]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the cut sheet is cut from the cut sheet storage portion in a state where the rear end portion of the preceding cut sheet in the conveying direction and the rear end portion of the subsequent cut sheet in the conveying direction are in contact with each other. The paper is fed and conveyed by the paper feeding / conveying means, and the cut paper is printed by the printing unit based on the print information. In this way, by transporting multiple cut sheets in a state where the gap between the first cut sheet and the second cut sheet is not opened,
When printing is continuously performed on a plurality of cut sheets, it is possible to shorten the time required from printing the first cut sheet to printing the second cut sheet. Therefore, it is possible to shorten the time taken to print the print information on the plurality of cut sheets.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of cut sheets are conveyed in a state where the gap between the first cut sheet and the second cut sheet is not opened, the cut sheets are printed on the first cut sheet. The blank information forming the blank portion between the print information to be printed on the cut sheet and the print information to be printed later is inserted by the blank information inserting means, and the blank information is inserted by the blank information inserting means. Based on the information, the operation of continuously printing on the cut paper conveyed by the paper feed conveying means in a state where the rear end portion of the previous cut paper in the conveyance direction and the front end portion of the subsequent cut paper in the conveyance direction are in contact with each other By performing the operation, it is not necessary to start and stop the operation of printing on the cut sheet for each cut sheet, so that the operation of printing the print information on the cut sheet can be easily controlled.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an operation of feeding a cut sheet in a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of expanding print information in a print buffer.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of a printing device.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing electrical hardware of the printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Printing unit 8 Cassette paper storage unit 17, 18 Print information storage unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A print information storage section for storing print information, a cut sheet storage section for accommodating a plurality of cut sheets, a rear end portion in the conveying direction of the preceding cut sheet, and a conveying direction of the rear cut sheet. A sheet feeding and conveying unit that feeds and conveys the cut sheet from the cut sheet accommodating section in a state of being in contact with the front end section of the sheet, and a rear end section of the preceding cut sheet in the conveyance direction based on the print information. A printing unit for printing on the cut sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding / conveying means in a state where the leading end portion of the subsequent cut sheet in the conveyance direction is in contact with the printing apparatus. 2. A blank information inserting means for inserting blank information forming a blank portion between print information printed on the first cut sheet and print information printed on the second cut sheet, The part is in a state where the trailing end portion of the preceding cut sheet in the conveying direction and the leading end portion of the following cut sheet in the conveying direction are in contact with each other based on the print information in which the outline information inserting means inserts the outline information. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the operation of printing on the cut sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding and conveying means is continuously performed.