JPH05261978A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer capable of simultaneously perfecting printing surfaces of a form without requiring the turning-over operation of the form. CONSTITUTION:A pair of heads 12a, 12b are mounted oppositely on both surfaces of a form 11. The heads 12a, 12b are loaded on carriages 13a, 13b respectively. The carriages 13a, 13b are moved simultaneously on rails through a gear mechanism and a belt mechanism by driving a carriage motor 20. The heads 12a, 12b are used at the same time with the movement of the carriages, and both surfaces of the form 11 are printed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus used for, for example, a document creating apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus having a double-sided printing function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, serial printers and page printers have been used as printing devices used in document creation devices. The serial printer is a printer that prints print information character by character. The page printer is a printer that prints print information page by page, and is classified into a laser, an LED, a liquid crystal, and the like depending on the difference in the photosensitive method.

Incidentally, the siriple printer is basically constructed by printing on one side of a sheet. Therefore, when it is desired to print on both sides of the paper, it is necessary to turn over the paper and print on the back surface after printing on one side. Some page printers have a double-sided printing function. However, this is such that after printing on one side, the paper is automatically turned over and printed, and not on both sides at the same time.

[0004]

As described above, conventionally, when performing double-sided printing, it is very troublesome to turn over the paper. In this case, there is a problem that printing is misaligned between the front side and the back side of the paper because it is done manually.
There are also page printers that automatically turn the paper over to print, but they do not print on both sides at the same time, which causes a problem that it takes time. Moreover, this page printer is also a large-scale device.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of simultaneously printing on both sides of a sheet without the need to turn over the sheet.

[0006]

A printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a pair of heads provided on both sides of a sheet so as to face each other.
A pair of carriages for mounting each of these heads,
A drive mechanism for simultaneously driving the respective carriages is provided, and printing is executed using both of the heads.

Further, the present invention comprises a designating means for designating single-sided printing or double-sided printing. When the single-sided printing is designated by this designating means, printing is performed using one of the heads, When double-sided printing is designated, printing is executed using both of the heads.

[0008]

According to the above construction, when double-sided printing is designated, a pair of heads provided facing both sides of the paper are used at the same time for printing. Therefore, it is possible to perform double-sided printing easily and speedily without the need to reverse the paper as in the past.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the construction of the printing mechanism section of the embodiment. This apparatus has a double-sided simultaneous printing mechanism. That is, a pair of heads 12a on both sides of the paper 11,
12b are provided facing each other. This head 12a,
Reference numeral 12b is a thermal head in a serial printer, for example, and is mounted on the carriages 13a and 13b, respectively. In this embodiment, the head 12a and the carriage 13a are used for printing the front surface of the paper 11, and the head 12b and the carriage 13b are used for printing the back surface of the paper 11.

The front surface printing carriage 13a is supported by a pair of carriage rails 14a and 15a, and moves on the rails 14a and 15a via a belt 16a. Belt 16a includes gears 17a, 18a and 19a.
The carriage 13 is rotated by the carriage motor 20 to move the carriage 13a to the printing position. Similarly, the carriage 13b for printing on the back side includes a pair of carriage rails 14
It is supported by b and 15b and moves on its rails 14b and 15b via a belt 16b. Belt 16b
Is rotated by the carriage motor 20 via the gears 17b, 18b and 19 to move the carriage 13b to the printing position.

A pair of bail rollers 21 and 22 and bail rollers 23 and 24 are provided as a sheet feeding mechanism. As shown in FIG. 2, the bail rollers 21 and 22 are provided on the discharge side of the paper 11, and the bail rollers 23 and 24 are provided.
Is provided on the insertion side of the paper 11. Bale roller 2
1, 22 are respectively supported by shafts 25, 26,
Paper feed motor 3 via gears 27, 28 and 29
The paper 11 is rotated by the paper feed knob 32 via 0 or the gear 31, and the paper 11 is ejected to the outside of the printing mechanism while being pinched by the ejection side. On the other hand, the bail rollers 23, 24 are supported by the shafts 33, 34, respectively, and the gears 35, 36, 31
By rotating the driving force of the paper feed motor 30 or the paper feed knob 32 via 29 and 29, the paper 11 is inserted into the printing mechanism while being pinched by the insertion side.

The bail rollers 21, 22 and the bail rollers 23, 24 as described above are adapted to be opened and closed in conjunction with each other by operating the sheet pressing lever 37. That is, when the paper pressing lever 37 is slid in the paper pressing direction, the bail rollers 21 and 22 come into contact with each other and the bail rollers 23 and 24 also come into contact with each other. On the other hand, when the paper pressing lever 37 is slid in the paper releasing direction, the bail rollers 21 and 22 are separated and the bail rollers 23 and 24 are separated.

Incidentally, in FIG. 1, 38a and 38b
Is a flexible cable. The flexible cable 38a is a cable for sending information for surface printing to the head 12a. Similarly, the flexible cable 38
Reference numeral b is a cable for sending information for printing on the back surface to the head 12b.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the control system of the embodiment. In FIG. 3, a CPU 51 controls the entire apparatus, and here executes a single-sided / double-sided printing process as shown in FIG. In ROM52,
A program area 52a in which various processing programs that determine the operation of the CPU 51 are stored, a font data area 52b in which font data is stored, and the like are provided. The RAM 53 is provided with a document buffer 53a for storing document information including a plurality of pages, print buffers 53b, 53c for storing print information, and the like.
The print buffer 53b is a buffer used for single-sided printing. The print buffer 53c is a buffer used for double-sided printing.

The input unit 54 is a keyboard for inputting various information necessary for printing processing, and has a "print" key 54a for instructing printing here. The input control unit 55 controls input of various information input by the input unit 54. The display unit 56 is a display device for inputting various kinds of information necessary for print processing. The display control unit 57 controls the display of the display unit 56. The head controller 58 controls the head 12a for front surface printing and the head 12b for back surface printing. The motor control unit 59 controls the carriage motor 20 and the paper feed motor 30. Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.

In printing, first, plain paper or thermal paper (double-sided thermal paper in the case of double-sided printing) is applied to the printing mechanism shown in FIG.
The paper 11 consisting of is set between the heads 12a and 12b. If plain paper is used as the paper 11,
It is necessary to mount a ribbon cassette for a thermal transfer system (not shown) on the carriages 13a and 13b.

When setting the paper 11, first,
The paper pressing lever 37 is slid in the paper releasing direction to open the bail rollers 21 and 22 and the bail rollers 23 and 24, respectively, and the paper 11 is sandwiched between the rollers as shown in FIG. Next, the paper pressing lever 37 is slid in the paper pressing direction, and the bail rollers 21, 22 and the bail roller 23,
24 is closed and the paper 11 is pinched. When the paper feed knob 32 is rotated in this state, a gear mechanism (27-2
9, 11, 35, 36) and the sheet 11 is fed. Thereby, the printing position of the paper 11 is adjusted.

Here, as shown in the flow chart of FIG. 4, when printing is instructed by pressing the "print" key 54a of the input unit 54 (step S1), the carriage motor 2
0 is driven, and the carriage 13a for surface printing is driven via the gear mechanism (19, 18a, 17a) and the belt 16a.
Is set to the initial position (home position) (step S2). At the same time, gear mechanism (19, 18b, 17b)
And a carriage 1 for printing on the back side via the belt 16b
3b is set to the initial position (home position) (step S2). In this case, since the same key and belt are used for the front surface printing and the back surface printing around the carriage motor 20, the carriages 13a and 13b move in the same direction at the same speed.

Further, the print instruction causes a print menu screen as shown in FIG. 5 to be displayed (step S3). In this embodiment, one-sided printing (here, full-text printing or page printing) or two-sided printing is designated by the cursor on this print menu screen. Also, when double-sided printing is specified, it is designed to specify whether the front and back pages are to be allocated automatically or manually. In the case of automatic allocation, for example, the front page is automatically allocated to odd pages and the back page is even pages. In the case of manual allocation, for example, a page allocation screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed. On this screen, the user can specify, for example, that the first page is 2 pages, the back is 1 page, the 2nd table is 3 pages, the back is no page (* is specified here). Pagination is performed. It should be noted that this manual allocation is performed, for example, in units of 5 sheets. That is, after the allocation of five sheets is completed, the automatic allocation screen for the next five sheets is displayed by a specific instruction.

In this way, when various print items including designation of single-sided printing or double-sided printing are set (step S
4), printing is executed. In this case, when double-sided printing is designated, double-sided printing processing is executed, and when single-sided printing is designated, single-sided printing processing is executed (steps S5 to S7).

That is, in the case of double-sided printing, the document information consisting of a plurality of pages stored in the document buffer 53a of the RAM 53 shown in FIG. 3 is divided into odd pages and even pages according to the page allocation on the print menu screen described above. Be divided. Of these, the print information based on the document information of the odd pages is the print buffer 53b.
The print information based on the even-numbered page document information is stored in the print buffer 53c. Here, when the carriages 13a and 13b are simultaneously driven through the carriage motor 20, the print buffer 53 is moved along with the movement of the carriages.
The print information of the odd page stored in b is printed on the front surface of the paper 11 through the head 12a for front surface printing, and the print information of the even page stored in the print buffer 53c is printed through the head 12b for back surface printing of the paper 11. Printed on the back side.

In this case, the print heads 12a and 12 are simultaneously
By ejecting b onto the paper 11, the head 12a
For the head 12b, the head 12b serves as a wall (platen), while for the head 12b, the head 12a serves as a wall (platen). In this way
When the printing of one line is completed, the paper 11 is fed to the next print start position through the paper feed motor 30.

On the other hand, in the case of single-sided printing, print information based on the document information in the document buffer 53a is printed in the print buffer 53a.
stored in b. The print information stored in the print buffer 53b is transferred to the paper 1 through the head 12a for surface printing.
Printed on the surface of 1. In this case, the carriages 13a and 13b are simultaneously driven as in the case of double-sided printing, and the head 12b serves as a wall. However, since print information is not supplied to the head 12b, the head 12b does not generate heat and printing is not performed on the back surface.

When a ribbon cassette is used,
Printing is performed via the ink ribbon in the cassette. In this case, the ink ribbon is wound up as the carriage moves.

As described above, when double-sided printing is designated, a pair of heads 12a and 12b provided facing both sides of the paper 11 are simultaneously used for printing. Therefore, it is possible to perform double-sided printing easily and speedily without the need to reverse the paper as in the past. Moreover, in this embodiment, since the serial printer is adopted, the device does not become large.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, both sides of a sheet can be printed at the same time. Therefore, compared to the conventional case, the time and trouble of turning over the paper can be saved, and the printing time can be dramatically shortened. In addition, printing does not shift between the front and back of the paper. As a result, the invention can be applied to various information processing apparatuses that require printing, for example, in addition to the document creation apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the configuration of a printing mechanism section according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a set state of sheets in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a print menu screen of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a pagination screen of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 ... Paper, 12a and 12b ... Head, 13a and 13b ... Carriage, 14a, 14b, 15a and 15b ... Carriage rail, 16a and 16b ... Belt, 20 ... Carriage motor, 21, 22, 23 and 24 ... Bail roller, 30 ... Paper feed motor, 32 ... Paper feed knob, 37 ... Paper pressing lever, 51 ... CPU, 5
2 ... ROM, 53 ... RAM, 53a ... Document buffer, 5
3b and 53c ... print buffer, 54 ... input section, 54
a ... "Print" key, 55 ... Input control unit, 56 ... Display unit,
57 ... Display control unit, 58 ... Head control unit, 59 ... Motor control unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of heads provided on opposite sides of a sheet, a pair of carriages respectively mounting the heads, a drive mechanism for simultaneously driving the respective carriages, and both of the heads are used. And a printing control unit that executes printing. 2. A single-sided printing or a double-sided printing is designated, and the printing control means executes printing by using one of the heads when the single-sided printing is designated by the designating means. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the double-sided printing is designated, the printing is executed using both of the heads.