Printing device

Details Printing device Printing device

2000-06-14

2001-02-20

Eickholt, Eugene (Department: 2854)

Typewriting machines

Typing by other than type-face or type-die

Thermal

C400S621000, C400S708000, C101S226000, C101S227000, C101S485000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06190066

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing device having a printing mechanism, such as a thermal head, etc.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 20
is a conceptual diagram showing a mechanism
100
of a conventional printing device (a heat transfer printer device). In
FIG. 20
,
1
denotes a thermal head,
2
denotes an ink sheet coated with thermo-dissolving ink or thermo-sublimating ink for heat transfer recording,
3
denotes printing paper,
4
denotes a platen roller for transferring the sheet of printing paper
3
while pressing the sheets in close contact with each other against the thermal head
1
,
5
denotes pinch rollers for transferring the printing paper
3
while gripping the paper,
6
denotes a cutter for cutting the roll-type printing paper
3
, and
7
denotes a reflection-type optical sensor for sensing the front end position of the printing paper
3
.
FIG. 21
is a conceptual diagram showing the conventional thermal head
1
. The effective heating width W
1
of the thermal head
1
is shorter than the paper width W
2
of the printing paper
3
.
FIG. 22
is a diagram showing the front side of a printed piece of paper
300
produced in the conventional system.
The conventional printing device operates as described below. Initially, suppose that the cutter
6
has cut the printing paper
3
. The pinch rollers
5
transfer the printing paper
3
in the paper-supply direction. In the feed direction in which the printing paper is sent, the direction from the printing paper supplying side to the printed paper discharge side is referred to as a paper-discharge direction and the opposite direction is referred to as the paper-supply direction. The sensor
7
senses the front end
31
of the printing paper
3
. The pinch rollers
5
position the front end
31
at the position of the pinch rollers
5
based on the information about the position of the front end
31
sensed by the sensor
7
. Next, a desired image
30
is printed. Then, the pinch rollers
5
transfer the printing paper
3
in the paper-discharge direction and position the rear end
32
at the position of the cutter
6
such that a blank
34
is left. Then the cutter
6
cuts the printing paper
3
. In the conventional system, the positioning of the printing paper
3
is thus obtained on the basis of the positional information about the front end
31
of the printing paper
3
.
The conventional heat transfer printer device has the following problems. Since the effective heating width W
1
of the thermal head
1
is shorter than the width W
2
of the printing paper
3
as shown in
FIG. 21
, the printed piece of paper
300
has blanks
35
in its width direction, as shown in FIG.
22
. Further, since the conventional heat transfer printer device operates as described above, blanks are left in the feed direction on the printed piece of paper
300
, as shown in FIG.
22
. More specifically, the printed paper has a gripping blank
33
having the width L from a pinch rollers
5
to the thermal head
1
and a margin blank
34
for preventing the image
30
from being cut.
Further, the positioning of the printing paper
3
is obtained on the basis of the information about the position of the front end
31
and not on the basis of contents on the back side of the printing paper
3
. Accordingly, the conventional heat transfer printer cannot be applied to printing that requires that contents on the front side of the printed paper
300
should be positioned in correspondence with contents on the back side, as in the case of picture postcards.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a printing device for use with a continuous sheet of printing paper, wherein the front side of the printing paper is a printing surface on which a desired print is printed, and the back side thereof is an already printed surface in which regular-form print areas printed with a given print are intermittently provided with blank areas interposed therebetween, with positional references provided in the blank areas. According to the present invention, the printing device comprises a feeding mechanism for feed-driving the printing paper, a printing mechanism provided to face the front side of the printing paper in a path in which the printing paper is fed, for printing the desired print, a cutter provided on a paper-discharge side for the printing paper offset from the printing mechanism, a sensor provided in the path for sensing the positional reference, and control means for controlling the feeding mechanism, the printing mechanism, and the cutter on the basis of a sense output from the sensor. The printing mechanism prints the front side of the printing paper corresponding to the regular-form print area through control by the control means, and the cutter cuts off the blank area from the printing paper through control by the control means, thereby producing a piece of paper having the desired print on the front side and the regular-form print on the back side.
A second aspect of the present invention is directed to a printing device for use with a continuous sheet of printing paper, wherein the front side of the printing paper is a printing surface on which a desired print is printed, and the back side thereof is an already printed surface in which regular-form print areas printed with a given print are successively provided, with positional references provided in the regular-form print areas. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the printing device comprises a feeding mechanism for feed-driving the printing paper, a printing mechanism provided to face the front side of the printing paper in a path in which the printing paper is fed, for printing the desired print, a cutter provided on a paper-discharge side for the printing paper offset from the printing mechanism, a sensor provided in the path for sensing the positional reference, and control means for controlling the feeding mechanism, the printing mechanism, and the cutter on the basis of a sense output from the sensor. The printing mechanism prints the front side of the printing paper corresponding to the regular-form print area through control by the control means, and the cutter cuts off a boundary between the regular-form print areas on the printing paper through control by the control means, thereby producing a piece of paper having the desired print on the front side and the regular-form print on the back side.
Preferably, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the first aspect, the printing mechanism is a thermal head having an effective heating width equal to or larger than the paper width of the printing paper.
Preferably, according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the second aspect, the printing mechanism is a thermal head having an effective heating width equal to or larger than the paper width of the printing paper.
Preferably, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the first aspect, the given print in the regular-form print area is a print of a postcard surface.
Preferably, according to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the second aspect, the given print in the regular-form print area is a print of a postcard surface.
Preferably, according to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the third aspect, the given print in the regular-form print area is a print of a postcard surface.
Preferably, according to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the printing device of the fourth aspect, the given print in the regular-form print area is a print of a postcard surface.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, a heat transfer printing device for use with single piece type or continuous sheet type printing paper comprises a thermal head provided in a path in which the printing paper is fed to face a printing surface of the printing paper, the thermal head havi

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