JP2006255983A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording device which can stably perform a recording process to an RFID tag being a recording object by preventing the communication with RFID tags which are not the recording object from being normally performed at the time of the writing on RFID tags. <P>SOLUTION: This recording device has a recording head, a carrying means which carries a recording medium, an antenna, and an information writing means. In this case, the recording head performs recording on the surface of the recording medium for which a radio communication element including a memory is added. The antenna performs a communication with the radio communication element within a range of the carrying means. The information writing means performs an information writing in the memory. In the recording device, an electromagnetic wave shielding member is applied in a vicinity of the antenna which performs the communication with the RFID element being the writing object, and an electric wave for the communication is prevented from being received by RFID elements which are not the writing object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording control method, and in particular, for example, is equipped with an RFID recording function for communicating with a recording medium incorporating an RFID tag, and the recording medium is transported, for example, recording using a full-line recording head. The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that records an image on a recording medium.

  In recent years, with the development of semiconductor technology and electronic communication technology, an automatic recognition system called RFID (Radio Frequency IDdentification) capable of transmitting and receiving information without contact has been developed.

  This RFID system is composed of an RFID tag that is equipped with an electronic circuit and holds information, and an RFID reader / writer that controls the RFID tag.

  Features and advantages of this RFID system include that data can be newly written and appended, and simultaneous communication with a plurality of RFID tags is possible, and is less susceptible to obstacles during communication. These have functions that are not available in automatic recognition systems such as barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes. Because of its convenience, not only has it been difficult to automate with barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes, it has also attracted attention in the field of logistics and distribution, which has been automated with conventional automatic recognition systems.

  Now, an RFID tag mounted on a medium such as a card or a label and used in an RFID system needs to record on the surface of the medium and write information to the RFID tag. Rather than sharing with the device, the recording device is equipped with an RFID tag recording function, and a recording device with an RFID tag recording function is used to collectively record on the medium surface and record information on the RFID tag. .

Since the recording on the medium surface and the recording of information on the RFID tag are collectively managed, it is possible to improve the consistency of the recording data.
Usually, an antenna mounting position and a communication range for recording information on an RFID tag are set to positions that emphasize productivity.

JP 2003-208573 A

  However, in the conventional recording apparatus, the antenna mounting position and the communicable range are arranged near the exterior of the machine body or the communicable range is set large due to the configuration of the apparatus.

  As a result, a case where communication with a medium other than the medium to be recorded, that is, a medium that is not a recording target is possible occurs, resulting in a problem in recording.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example, and is stable with respect to the RFID tag to be recorded by preventing the normal communication with the RFID tag to be recorded when the RFID tag is written. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of recording processing.

  In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

A recording head for recording on a recording medium surface to which a wireless communication element including a memory is added;
In a recording apparatus comprising transport means for transporting the recording medium, an antenna in the range of the transport means and communicating with the wireless communication element, and information writing means for writing information to the memory,
An electromagnetic wave shielding member is provided in the vicinity of the antenna, and the electromagnetic wave shielding member is disposed so as to prevent communication between the wireless communication element not to be written and the antenna.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a recording apparatus that can realize printing on an RFID-containing recording medium and writing data on an RFID element at the same time and with high reliability.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically and in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  In the embodiment described below, a print system using a recording apparatus using a full line recording head according to the ink jet method will be described as an example.

  In this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “printing”) is not only for forming significant information such as characters and figures, but also for human beings visually perceived regardless of significance. Regardless of whether or not it has been manifested, it also represents a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or the medium is processed.

  “Recording medium” refers not only to paper used in general recording apparatuses but also widely to cloth, plastic film, metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, and the like that can accept ink. Shall.

  Furthermore, “ink” (sometimes referred to as “liquid”) is to be interpreted broadly in the same way as the definition of “recording (printing)” above. It represents a liquid that can be used for forming a pattern or the like, processing a recording medium, or processing an ink (for example, solidification or insolubilization of a colorant in ink applied to the recording medium).

  Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the “nozzle” collectively refers to an ejection port or a liquid channel communicating with the ejection port and an element that generates energy used for ink ejection.

  FIG. 1 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention, which is a recording system using a color recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as recording apparatus) using a full-line recording head according to an ink jet system and a host computer (hereinafter referred to as host). It is a block diagram. The recording apparatus 101 and the host 100 are connected by a printer cable 107 so that various data processed by the host 100 are recorded by the recording apparatus 101.

  The recording apparatus 101 includes a full-line recording head (to be referred to as a recording head hereinafter), an RFID communication antenna, an upper cover 103 for opening and closing a conveyance unit, and liquid ink as a recording agent supplied to the recording head. A front cover 104 for opening and closing a storage tank unit, a sheet feeding unit 109 for feeding a recording medium loaded on a sheet feeding tray 102 (to be described later) to the recording unit 108, and a recording medium conveyed from the recording unit 108 An outer shell is constituted by the paper discharge unit 110 to be stored.

  Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 105 denotes a power switch of the recording apparatus, and 106 denotes an operation panel including input keys for setting the operating environment in the recording apparatus 100 and display means for notifying the user of an error occurrence state of the recording apparatus. is there. The operation panel includes an LED 111, an LCD 112, and a button 113.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an RFID tag built-in card 201 used by the recording apparatus 101 as a recording medium.

  An RFID tag 205 shown in FIG. 2 includes an IC chip 203 on which a nonvolatile memory for storing electronic information is mounted and a loop antenna 202, and is covered with a paper or PET resin film 204. The RFID tag built-in card 201 does not have a power source, generates electric power by using radio waves generated from an RFID communication antenna (described later) disposed in the recording apparatus 101, and uses the RFID tag as an internal power source via the RFID communication antenna. Electronic information can be written in 205.

  3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the recording apparatus 101 shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the arrangement of recording heads and RFID communication antennas used by the recording apparatus 101 shown in FIG. It is a perspective view.

  The recording apparatus 101 is provided with six full-line recording heads so that recording can be performed using a maximum of six different inks. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the recording medium is conveyed. In order from the upstream direction, the recording head 306K that ejects black ink, the recording head 306C that ejects cyan ink, the recording head 306LC that ejects light cyan ink, the recording head 306M that ejects magenta ink, and the light magenta ink are ejected. A recording head 306LM and a recording head 306Y that discharges yellow ink are provided. When these six recording heads are collectively referred to, 306 is used. Further, an RFID communication antenna 303 is provided on the upstream side of the recording head 306.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the conveyance unit 302 located below the recording head 305, the RFID tag built-in card 201 loaded on the paper feed tray 102 is moved to a recording position by the recording head 306 by a feeding method described later. When it is transported toward the RFID tag 205, its position is managed by the TOF sensor 304, and when it is transported to the communication position of the RFID communication antenna 303, electronic information is written to the RFID tag 205 built in via the RFID communication antenna 303. Is started.

  Further, when the RFID tag built-in card 201 is conveyed and then reaches the recording position, ink is ejected by the six recording heads 306K, 306C, 306LC, 306M, 306LM, 306Y, and an image is formed on the RFID tag built-in card 201. It is configured to be recorded and finally carried out to the paper discharge unit 110.

  Under the conveyance unit 302, a tank unit 301 for storing dedicated ink supplied to the recording heads 306Bk, 306C, 306LC, 306M, 306LM, and 306Y is detachably fixed.

  FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the recording apparatus 101.

  In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 denotes a main controller that controls the entire recording apparatus. The CPU 601a has a built-in control function for storing input data to be described later, a data control function, and various settings necessary for the recording operation. For example, it has a setting control function. The main controller 601 is connected to the host 100 via an interface (not shown) and can exchange signals with each other. Reference numeral 602 denotes a ROM which is connected to the main controller 601 and stores control programs and the like. The main controller 601 operates using the RAM 612 as a work area according to these programs.

  The RAM 612 temporarily stores data transferred from the host 100 and written to the RFID tag 205, and the RFID communication circuit 609 connected to the main controller 601 stores the data stored in the RAM 612 through the RFID communication antenna 610. Write to the RFID tag.

  Reference numeral 606 denotes an image buffer memory for storing image data transmitted from the host 100. Reference numeral 606K denotes a black image buffer for temporarily storing image data of a black component. Similarly, reference numerals 606C, 606LC, 606M, 606LM, and 606Y denote cyan. This is an image buffer memory that temporarily stores image data of a component, a magenta component, a light magenta component, a cyan component, a light cyan component, and a yellow component.

  Reference numeral 603 denotes a head driving circuit for driving a heating element (not shown) built in the recording heads 306K, 306C, 306LC, 306M, 306LM, and 306Y, and a driver controller 607 connected to the main controller 601 includes an image buffer memory 606. The image is recorded by controlling the head driving circuit 603 in accordance with the image data recorded in the bitmap format of each color component stored in.

  604D is a motor driver that drives a feed motor 604 provided in the transport unit 302, 600 is a drive that drives a lift motor 605 that raises and lowers the paper feed tray 102 of the paper feed unit 109, and a pickup motor 608 that feeds a recording medium. These circuits are all controlled by the main controller 601.

  Reference numeral 611 denotes a sensor circuit that collectively refers to various sensors including the TOF sensor 304 described above.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of various control commands transmitted from the host.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in all commands, an identification code for identifying the type of command is arranged at the head of the command, and an operand for setting an incidental instruction regarding the command follows the identification code. Depending on the type of command, there may be no operand and only an identification code.

  The control commands include a recording medium, for example, a sheet setting command 501 for setting the size of a continuous label sheet, a format command 502 having a reference setting for recording data, and a recording apparatus operation setting for setting the operation of the recording apparatus main body. There are a command 512, data commands 503, 504, and 505 for setting detailed information for each of characters, images, and RFID, a job start command 510 for indicating the end of recording data and instructing the start of a job.

  These commands are output from the host 100 to the recording apparatus 101 as a command sequence as shown in the recording command transfer example 511.

The type of the IC chip 203 of the RFID tag 205 is set in the IC chip type operand 506 of the paper setting command 501, and the RFID tag size is set in the RFID tag attachment position operand 507. Further, the sheet feeding mode of the recording apparatus is set to the sheet feeding mode operand 513 of the recording apparatus operation setting command 502, and the conveyance speed of the recording apparatus is set to the conveyance speed operand 514. Further, the amount of data written to the IC chip 203 is set in the data length operand 508 of the RFID data command 505, and the write data is set in the data operand 509.
Next, an RFID communication antenna position and a communicable range in the recording system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  The position and communicable range of the RFID communication antenna 303 are set so that the RFID tag built-in card 201 can communicate on the conveyance path when passing in the direction of the arrow in the figure. At this time, the electromagnetic wave shielding material 702 is attached to the inner side of the upper cover 103 so that the communicable range does not reach the outside of the apparatus, thereby preventing access to the RFID tag built-in card 703 that is not to be written.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the liquid droplets ejected from the recording head have been described as ink, and the liquid stored in the ink tank has been described as ink. However, the storage is limited to ink. It is not a thing. For example, a treatment liquid discharged to the recording medium may be accommodated in the ink tank in order to improve the fixability and water resistance of the recorded image or to improve the image quality.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, a full-line type ink jet type recording apparatus has been described as an example. However, the present invention is a printer having a recording head other than the ink jet type, that is, a thermal type, a thermal transfer type, an electrophotographic type, etc. The present invention can be applied to a recording apparatus that employs another recording method, or can be applied to a monochrome recording apparatus.

  The present invention is applicable to a recording apparatus that simultaneously performs printing on the surface of a recording medium incorporating an RFID element or the like and writing information to the RFID element.

1 is a system configuration diagram in which an inkjet recording apparatus with an RFID tag recording function, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention, and a host computer are connected. FIG. It is the structure schematic of the recording medium which incorporated the RFID tag. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically illustrating an arrangement of an inkjet recording head and an RFID communication antenna mounted on the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the control command system of the recording device shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the recording apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the communication antenna position by this invention, a shielding material, and the communicable range.

Explanation of symbols

100 Host computer 101 Recording device 102 Paper feed tray 103 Upper cover 104 Front cover 105 Power switch 106 Operation panel 107 Printer cable 108 Recording unit 109 Paper supply unit 110 Paper output unit 111 LED
112 LCD
113 Button 201 RFID tag built-in card 202 Loop antenna 203 IC chip 204 Film 205 RFID tag 701 Communication range 702 Electromagnetic wave shielding material

Claims (3)

A recording head for recording on a recording medium surface to which a wireless communication element including a memory is added;
In a recording apparatus comprising transport means for transporting the recording medium, an antenna in the range of the transport means and communicating with the wireless communication element, and information writing means for writing information to the memory,
An electromagnetic wave shielding member is provided in the vicinity of the antenna.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic wave shielding member is disposed so as to prevent communication between the wireless communication element not to be written and the antenna. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit transports the recording medium at a substantially constant speed.

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