JP2000326532A - Apparatus for printing recording material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent management for cards or the like of a plurality of colors from being complicate even when issuing the cards, and also correctly and easily compare kinds of data to be printed and kinds of cards to be printed. SOLUTION: In a card-printing apparatus 1, a control device 5 prints on a card C with the use of a first thermal head 11 and a second thermal head 12 sequentially when printing data includes information that a black color is to be recorded on a gold color. After the printing by the second thermal head 12 is finished, the control device controls and drives motors 23 and 24 to separate the first and second thermal heads 11 and 12 from a transfer path 10, and also controls and drives a transfer roller 25 to move the card C again from the side of the second thermal head 12 towards the first thermal head 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording material printing apparatus for printing on a recording material based on predetermined print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a recording material printing apparatus of this type, for example, cards such as a credit card and a driver's license are used.
It is known to print and issue personal data.

Incidentally, cards of special colors, such as gold and platinum, are sometimes used as the above cards. For example, if it is a credit card,
Gold and platinum colors are issued for each member, and if it is a driver's license, a gold driver's license is issued to a good driver or the like. In this case, as a gold color or a platinum color, a color tone that is difficult to produce a color using only a combination of the three primary colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan is often used.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to issue a color-coded card with the same apparatus, in addition to a normal card, a card in which a base color such as gold or platinum is offset-printed in advance is separately provided. A stock of a card of a desired color is drawn out of the stock based on personal data to be printed or the like, and printing is performed.

[0005]

However, in the above-described device, cards of a plurality of colors must be prepared, and the management of these cards is complicated. In addition, there is a concern that personal data and the like may be printed on a different type of card, so that it takes time to collate data items, and there may be a problem in the accuracy of collation itself.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and when issuing cards of a plurality of types of colors, etc., the management of the cards does not become complicated, and the data to be printed is further reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording material printing apparatus capable of accurately and easily collating the type of a printing medium with the type of cards to be printed.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means. That is, in the recording material printing apparatus according to claim 1, at least the first and second thermal heads are arranged from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path along the transport path of the recording material. A platen is pressed against each of them from a position separated by the conveyance path, a first color ribbon is arranged between the first thermal head and the platen, and the second thermal head and the platen are A second color ribbon capable of emitting a specific color or a plurality of colors is disposed between the thermal head and the recording head; and a recording material conveyance unit for conveying the recording material along the conveyance path is provided. Is provided with thermal head driving means for moving the thermal head closer to or away from the transport path, and print data to be recorded on the recording material. , That can be stored in advance,
Alternatively, the control device is configured to include a control device that can be input from the outside, and the control device supplies power to each of the thermal heads based on the print data, and the recording material based on the print data. Control the operation of the recording material conveying means so as to convey the recording material from the upstream side to the downstream side of the conveying path, or from the downstream side to the upstream side, and at this time, the thermal head driving means. The control device is configured to control an operation, and when the print data includes information indicating that another color is to be recorded on a color that can be developed by the second color ribbon, While performing printing on the recording material using the first thermal head and the second thermal head sequentially, after the printing by the second thermal head is completed, the first thermal head is used. And driving control of the thermal head driving means so as to separate the second thermal head from the transport path, and further moves the recording material from the second thermal head side to the first thermal head side. Preferably, the recording material conveying means is drive-controlled.

[0008] With this configuration, in this recording material printing apparatus, a special color, such as a gold color, which is difficult to print with a normal color ribbon, is used as a base, and a normal ( Even when the information that prints a color that can be printed with a color ribbon (including three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan) is included, it is not necessary to separately perform base printing on the recording material in advance, and one device It is possible to deal with.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which reference numeral 1 indicates a card printing device (recording material printing device). As shown in the figure,
The card printing apparatus 1 is schematically constituted by a card stocker unit 2 in which cards C,... Are stored, a color printing unit 3 and a gold printing unit 4 for printing on the card C, and a control device 5.

The card stocker unit 2 has a structure in which unprinted cards C,... Are stored in a hopper 7, and the card C is supplied from an outlet 8 provided below the hopper 7.
Can be discharged one by one.

A section from the discharge port 8 to the card issuing port 9 provided in the gold printing unit 4 is formed as a transport path 10 for the card C, and along the transport path 10, the third path of the color printing unit 3 is formed. One thermal head 11
Is provided on the upstream side, and the second thermal head 12 of the gold printing unit 4 is provided on the downstream side. The first and second thermal heads 11 and the transport path 10
The platen rollers 14 and 15 are opposed to each other from a position separated by and are pressed against each other.

A first color ribbon 16 and a second color ribbon 17 are provided between the first thermal head 11 and the platen roller 14, and between the second thermal head 12 and the platen roller 15, respectively. It has been inserted. As shown in FIG. 2, the first color ribbon 16 has a basic configuration including each part of Y color (yellow), M color (magenta), C color (cyan), black, and OP (for overcoat printing). The ribbons are sequentially arranged in the extending direction of the ribbon. As shown in FIG. 1, both ends of the ribbon are wound around an unwind roller 18 and a take-up roller 19. On the other hand, the second color ribbon 17 is made of a single color of gold, and has both ends wound around the unwind roller 20 and the take-up roller 21.

The first and second thermal heads 11 and 12 are formed as line type thermal heads having heating elements of n dots at a predetermined pitch in the main scanning direction as shown in FIG. Card C with the same line pitch as the dot pitch in the main scanning direction.
Is controlled to be printable. In this case, for example, if printing is performed at a resolution of 300 dpi, the dot pitch in the main scanning direction and the line pitch in the sub-scanning direction are 1/12 mm, and if the printing area of the card C in the main scanning direction is 50 mm, n dots = 600 dots, and if the sub-scanning direction is 80 mm, N lines = 960 lines.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first and second thermal heads 11 and 12 are provided with motors (thermal head driving means) 23 and 24, respectively. By driving these motors 23 and 24, the heads 11 and 12 move
It is possible to approach and separate from.

Further, between the color printing unit 3 and the gold printing unit 4, a conveying roller (recording material conveying means) 25 is provided along the conveying path 10.
The transport roller 25 is configured to be rotatable forward and reverse.
Moving the card C from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path 10;
It is possible to convey from the downstream side to the upstream side.

On the other hand, the control unit 5 includes a CPU 28 connected to the external interface 27 and a print control unit 29.
A mechanical controller 30 connected to the CPU 28;
It has a schematic configuration including a page memory 31 and thermal head controllers 32 and 33 connected to a print controller 29.

The mechanical controller 30 is connected to the card stocker unit 2, the color printing unit 3, and the gold printing unit 4, and controls the ejection and winding of the card C from the hopper 7 based on an input signal from the CPU 28. The control of the rotation of the rollers 19 and 21, the control of the rotation of the transport roller 25, and the drive control of the motors 23 and 24 can be performed.

Further, the print control unit 29 receives the data from the external interface 27 or the page memory 31
Can be input to the thermal head control units 32 and 33 based on the printing information for the card C stored in the printer. Further, based on this signal, the thermal head control units 32 and 33 The operation of the second thermal heads 11 and 12 can be controlled.

The operation of the card printing apparatus 1 configured as described above can be represented as a flowchart in FIG. That is, first, when starting printing on the card C, the CPU 28
The card C is supplied from the hopper 7 of the card stocker unit 2 to the transport path 10 by transmitting a signal to the card C (step S1). Then, the print data input from the external interface 27, or
Based on the print data called from the page memory 31,
The print controller 29 controls the first thermal head 11 to perform color printing on the card C (step S).
2). In this case, printing is performed using only the Y, M, and C portions of the first color ribbon 16.

Next, based on whether or not the print data contains information indicating that black printing is to be performed on gold, it is determined whether or not gold printing is to be performed on the card C.
The determination is made in the PU 28 (step S3). And
If it is determined that gold printing is to be performed, the process proceeds to step S4, in which the transport roller 25 is driven to move the card C in the color printing unit 3 to the gold printing unit 4, and to perform the printing. Based on the data,
The print control unit 29 controls the second thermal head 12 to perform gold printing on the card C.

After the gold printing is performed, the motors 23 and 24 are driven and controlled by the mechanical controller 30 so that the first and second thermal heads 11 and 12 are controlled.
Is separated from the transport path 10 and the transport rollers 2
The card C is moved from the gold printing unit 4 to the color printing unit 3 by rotating the card 5 in the reverse direction.

Then, by driving the motor 23 again, the first thermal head 11 is moved closer to the transport path 10, and black printing and overcoat printing are performed on gold in the color printing unit 3 (step S5). ). Further, the printed card C is ejected from the card issuing slot 9. This allows
A card having a gold printing unit G, such as a card C ′ shown in FIG. 1, will be issued.

If it is determined in step S3 that gold printing is not to be performed, the process proceeds to step S3.
After the color printing is performed without going to Step 4, black printing and overcoat printing are performed immediately. In this case, the drive control of the motors 23 and 24 and the conveyance roller 2
No control is performed to reverse rotation of 5.

In the above-described card printing apparatus 1, when the print data includes information indicating that black printing or overcoat printing is to be performed on gold, the first thermal head 11 and the second thermal head 12 are sequentially used to print on the card C, and after the printing by the second thermal head 12 is completed, the motors 23 and 24 are moved so that the first and second thermal heads 11 and 12 are separated from the transport path. And the transport roller 25 is controlled so as to move the card C from the second thermal head 12 to the first thermal head 11 again.

Thus, for an unprinted card C,
Color printing and gold printing can be performed at the same time.Especially, even when character information is written on gold background, printing and issuing of cards can be performed in one device. It becomes possible. Therefore, when it is necessary to issue a card that is color-coded into gold and other colors, such as a credit card, there is no need to prepare a preprinted gold card, and the management cost becomes unnecessary. Also, in this case, the first thermal head 11 can record a face photograph and personal information, and the second thermal head 12 can print the gold portion. There is no need to worry about printing on cards of different colors, and the reliability at the time of card issuance can be improved as compared with a conventional device. Furthermore, since such processing can be performed inside the same device, the trouble of data collation at the time of card issuance is not required, and the time required for card issuance can be shortened.

In the above embodiment, another configuration may be adopted without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the black configuration may be removed from the first color ribbon 16 and the second color ribbon 17 may be configured such that gold, black,... Are sequentially arranged as shown in FIG. In this case, after printing is performed by the second thermal head 12, the first thermal head 11
, Only overcoat printing is performed. Further, in the second thermal head 12, not only the gold color but also other colors such as silver and platinum may be printed. Further, the printing target is not limited to a card, and may be another recording material.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the print data contains information that records a color that can be printed with a normal color ribbon on a special color that is difficult to print with a normal color ribbon such as gold as a base, There is no need to separately perform underprinting on the recording material in advance, and a single device can be used. Therefore, if the present invention is applied to, for example, card printing, when it is necessary to issue a color-coded card such as a credit card,
There is no need to prepare a pre-printed gold card or the like, and the management cost of the card can be reduced. Also, in this case, the first thermal head can record a face photograph and personal information, and the second thermal head can print gold or the like. There is no fear that the card will be printed, and the reliability at the time of card issuance can be improved as compared with the conventional device. Furthermore, since such processing can be performed inside the same device, the trouble of data collation at the time of card issuance is not required, and the time required for card issuance can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a card printing apparatus (recording material printing apparatus) schematically illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first color ribbon used in the card printing device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of first and second thermal heads used in the card printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and a relationship between the thermal head and a card to be printed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure for printing a card using the card printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of the present invention,
It is the schematic in the case of changing the structure of a 2nd color ribbon.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 card printing device (recording material printing device) 5 control device 10 transport path 11 first thermal head 12 second thermal head 14, 15 platen roller 16 first color ribbon 17 second color ribbon 23, 24 motor ( Thermal head driving means) 25 Conveying roller (recording material conveying means)

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Masaaki Oka 100 Takegahana-cho, Ise-shi, Mie Prefecture, Shinko Electric Co., Ltd.Ise Office (72) Inventor Chiaki Hara 100, Takegahana-cho, Ise City, Mie Prefecture, Shinko Electric Co., Ltd. Inventor Kazuhiro Kui 100 Takegahana-cho, Ise City, Mie Prefecture Shinko Electric Co., Ltd.Ise Works F-term (reference) 2C055 KK05 KK06 KK10 2C065 AA01 AB03 AD07 CJ02 CJ08 DC07 DC20 DC26

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least first and second thermal heads are arranged along a transport path of a recording material from an upstream side to a downstream side of the transport path, and the transport path is provided for each of the thermal heads. A platen is pressed from a separated position, and between the first thermal head and the platen,
A first color ribbon is arranged, and between the second thermal head and the platen,
A second color ribbon capable of emitting a specific color or a plurality of colors is disposed; and a recording material transport unit for transporting the recording material along the transport path is provided. Thermal head driving means for moving the recording medium toward and away from the transport path, and print data to be recorded on the recording material can be stored in advance or can be input from outside The control device is configured to energize each of the thermal heads based on the print data and to transfer the recording material from an upstream side to a downstream side of the transport path based on the print data. Or the operation of the recording material conveying means is controlled so that the recording material is conveyed toward the upstream side or from the downstream side to the upstream side. When the print data includes information indicating that another color is to be recorded on a color that can be developed by the second color ribbon, Performs printing on the recording material using the first thermal head and the second thermal head sequentially, and after the printing by the second thermal head is completed, the first and second thermal heads are The recording material transporting means controls the drive of the thermal head driving means so as to be separated from the transporting path, and further moves the recording material from the second thermal head side to the first thermal head side again. A printing material printing apparatus for controlling the driving of a recording material.