Printing – Special article machines
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-07
2003-09-09
Nolan, Jr., Charles H. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Special article machines
Reexamination Certificate
active
06615714
ABSTRACT:
This patent application claims priority from a Japanese patent application No. H11-348122 filed on Dec. 7, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer that prints a printing content onto a printing medium and a goods-wrapping apparatus including such a printer. In particular, the present invention relates to a goods-wrapping apparatus that wraps a particular article of a plurality, a printer included in the goods-wrapping apparatus, and a bag onto which the printer prints a predetermined printing content.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known goods-trading apparatus that selects a particular article of a plurality stored therein and carries the selected article out. As the goods-trading apparatus, for example, a canned juice vending machine, a confectionery vending machine, a newspaper vending machine, and a flower vending machine are put into practical use. Such a vending machine can store a plurality of articles and carry out one of the articles selected by a user. Moreover, the goods-trading apparatus allows the user to purchase a desired article even in the middle of the night, early morning, or holidays when shops are closed, because it can automatically carry out the article selected by the user in accordance with the user's instruction.
In many cases, however, the article purchased via the conventional goods-trading apparatus mentioned above is covered only by a package of the article. Thus, the package may be stained while the user carries the purchased article.
On the other hand, there are known plural types of printers for printing a desired printing content onto a printing medium. However, such conventional printers can perform printing only onto a predetermined printing medium, that is, for example, a standard-sized sheet of paper. Thus, it is difficult for the conventional printer to perform the printing onto a given printing medium other than the predetermined printing medium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a goods-trading apparatus with a printer that can solve the above-mentioned problems. This object is achieved by combinations described in the independent claims. The dependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinations of the present invention.
The inventor of the present invention came to appreciate that the known goods-trading apparatus had the following problems. First, the article that is carried out from the goods-trading apparatus is not wrapped with wrapping paper or the like. Thus, it is hard for the user to take the purchased article. Second, since the purchased article is not wrapped, it is difficult for the purchaser to be satisfied even if the article is the same as an article available from a shop.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the goods-trading apparatus of the present invention includes a means operable to pack the article selected by the user into a bag and carry it out. Moreover, the goods-trading apparatus of the present invention uses, as the bag for packing the article, a bag onto which a printing content related to the article to be packed is printed. Furthermore, the goods-trading apparatus of the present invention includes a printer operable to print the printing content onto the bag.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, a printing device for printing a printing content onto a bag having an opening and a closed portion opposite to the opening is provided. The printing device includes: a transport mechanism operable to transport the bag; and a printing head operable to print the printing content onto the bag that is being transported by the transport mechanism in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag. The bag may be a paper bag or a fabric bag. In addition, the bag may be folded at the bottom thereof. The printing content may be a perceptible content, such as an image or a character.
The printing device may further include: a transport direction determination section operable to determine whether or not the bag is transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag; and a warning section operable to warn, in a case where the bag cannot be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag, that the bag cannot be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag. For example, the warning section may produce a display device that presents a display image for warning that the bag is not to be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag. Also, the warning section may output, to a functional block of the printing device, a signal indicating that the closed portion does not go at the head of the bag. The transport direction determination section may detect a mark indicating a direction in which the bag is to be transported and determines whether or not the bag can be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag, the mark being provided on the bag. For example, the transport direction determination section may include a capturing device such as a CCD or a line sensor and detect the mark based on image data captured by the capturing device. In addition, the mark may be a bar, code while the transport direction determination section may be a bar code reader.
The printing device may further include: a bag size determination section operable to determine a size of the bag; and a print size adjustment section operable to adjust a size of the printing content to be such a size that the printing content is printed onto the bag, based on the size of the bag determined by the bag size determination section. For example, the bag size determination section may include a capturing device such as a CCD or a line sensor and detect the size of the bag based on the size of the bag captured by the capturing device. The bag size determination section may detect a mark indicating the size of the bag provided on the bag and detect the size of the bag based on the determination result. The mark provided on the bag may be a bar code including information regarding the size of the bag. Moreover, the printing device further includes: a plurality of printing heads having different printing characteristics; a material discriminator operable to discriminate a material for the bag; and a head selector operable to one of the printing heads in accordance with the material for the bag.
The material discriminator may detect a mark indicating the material for the bag provided on the bag and discriminate the material for the bag based on the detection result. The mark provided on the bag may be a bar code including information indicating the material for the bag and the material discriminator may detect the information of the material for the bag included in the bar code. In addition, the plurality of printing heads may be a printing head using ink for both paper and fabric.
The printing device further includes a condition adjustment section operable to change a position of the bag with respect to the direction in which the bag is transported so as to allow the bag to be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag, in a case where the bag cannot be transported in such a manner that the closed portion goes at the head of the bag. For example, the condition adjustment section may change a position of the bag to such a position that the closed portion of the bag goes at the head of the bag and a surface of the bag onto which the printing content is to be printed faces the printing head. More specifically, in a case where a handle of a paper bag is positioned at the head thereof, the condition adjustment section may rotate the paper bag by 180 degrees so as to make the closed portion of the paper bag positioned at the head of the paper bag. In addition, the mark provided on the bag may be a bar code while at leas
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
LandOfFree
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