JP2006168154A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image recording device which has a supporting function in a device body so as to enable easy disposal of unnecessary printed matter. <P>SOLUTION: This image recording device has a means to receive a cut mode action command, a means to receive a cut length designation, a sheet conveyance means to draw out a sheet and cut it to the designated cut length, and a cutting means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus such as a printer or plotter equipped with a cutter.

Conventionally, in this type of image forming apparatus, a recording error or the like often occurs due to an operation error or the like. Some of the recorded documents, such as recording mistakes, record important information such as confidential matters even though they cannot be used as official documents. Therefore, conventionally, a shredder has been installed in an office or the like in order to dispose of such confidential documents.
However, these general office shredders have many paper sizes up to A4 and A3, and if they are larger than that, they can be folded once by hand or cut small with a cutter or scissors before being put into the shredder. It was. Moreover, in the case of a large amount, it was necessary to dispose as industrial waste, or to ask a specialized contractor with special equipment such as a large shredder to collect it.

Patent Document 1, Patent Document 2, and Patent Document 3 propose an image recording apparatus incorporating a shredder function.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-063435 JP 2000-159410 A JP 2003-001902 A

  In recent years, large-format printers using inkjet technology have become widespread, and large-format printing such as A0 and B0 has become possible in general offices. In an office where such a large format printer is introduced, various unnecessary printed materials such as a printed matter, a test printed matter, and a used printed matter are generated. However, since the paper size is large, it cannot be easily processed by an office shredder. On the other hand, considering that the invention with a built-in shredder function in the conventional example is applied to a large-format printer for offices, the size of the original device becomes larger and the device becomes more complicated. There are few user benefits.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus having a function supported by the apparatus main body so that such unnecessary printed matter can be easily disposed of.

  To solve the above problems, the present invention provides at least a means for receiving a cut mode operation command, a means for receiving a cut length designation, a paper transport means and a cutting means for pulling out and cutting a paper to a designated cut length. It is characterized by having.

  As described above, if the recording apparatus according to the present invention is used, it is possible to dispose of large-sized unnecessary printed matter that requires time for disposal using a general shredder in an office.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ink jet recording apparatus which is an example of an image recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The ink jet recording apparatus 100 receives an image signal from the external host computer 24 and prints it in a normal printing operation. In the ink jet recording apparatus 100, the control unit 20 controls the carriage motor 34 that drives the carriage on which the head 32 is mounted, and controls the paper transport motor 35, and the ink droplets of the ink jet head 32 via the head driver 31. To control the discharge. The control unit 20 also includes a thermistor (temperature detection element) 25 that detects the temperature in the apparatus, a media sensor 203 that detects that the paper (media) 202 is set on the platen 201, and a medium at a holding position described later. While receiving the output of the media sensor 39 that detects the movement, the suction fan 23 that sucks the sheet 202 onto the platen 201 is controlled to prevent the sheet 202 from floating and cockling on the platen 201, and the head 205 The recovery system unit 39 that performs the ink suction operation, the wiper operation, and the preliminary ejection operation is controlled.

  The control unit 20 includes a CPU 21 that controls the entire apparatus, a timer 22 that measures the ink drying time, and driver ICs 26 and 27 that control the carriage motor 34 and the paper transport motor 35 under the control of the CPU 21, respectively.

  FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the inkjet recording apparatus 100. The platen 201 places a sheet 202 as a recording material (medium) on the upper surface. When the CPU 21 detects that the paper 202 has been pulled out and set on the platen 201 by the media sensor 203, the CPU 21 rotates the suction fan 204 and sucks the paper 202 from the suction hole 208 of the media provided on the platen 201. On the platen.

  The sheet 202 is driven and conveyed by the grid roller 206 and the pinch roller 207 and moves on the platen 201. Above the platen 201, for example, two parallel guide shafts are installed in parallel with the platen 201. A carriage is attached to the guide shaft so as to be reciprocally movable through a slide bearing, and the carriage can be moved in parallel along the guide shaft. A head 205 for ejecting ink is mounted on the carriage. The carriage operates according to the control of the control unit 20 by a carriage motor (34 in FIG. 2) and a belt (not shown), and reciprocates the mounted head 205 in parallel with the guide shaft. The recovery system unit 37 is provided at a retracted position outside the image forming area at one end of the carriage movable range.

  In such a configuration, the head 205 moves to the left and right along the guide shaft together with the carriage. At this time, ink is ejected from nozzles (not shown) to form an image corresponding to the nozzle width. Next, the sheet 202 is conveyed by the nozzle width by the grid roller 206 and the pinch roller 207. Image formation is performed by repeating this process.

  After the image formation is completed, the paper 202 is cut to a predetermined length by moving the cutter 301 along the cutter groove 209. The cutter 301 is mounted on the carriage, and is configured such that the blade portion is pulled out by moving the carriage to a cutter drawing position (not shown). Further, the sheet 202 can be cut by moving the carriage with the blade portion pulled out.

  The above is the description of the operation during normal printing in the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.

  Next, an example of a cut mode in the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the cut mode of the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  In the cut mode, the ink jet recording apparatus 100 receives a cut mode operation command from the external host computer 24 (step S801), and subsequently receives a length specification for cutting (step S802). The cut length is specified by, for example, “A3 width”, “A4 width”, and the like. The paper 202 is stored in the lower part of the apparatus (not shown) at the time of the above-described printing, and enters from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, but in the cut mode, it is intended for paper that has already been printed and is no longer needed. The manual paper feed path indicated by the arrow B in FIG. 2 is used. When entering the cut mode, the CPU 21 first monitors the manual feed sensor 210 and waits for the user to insert a sheet to be cut such as unnecessary printed matter (step S803). When the paper is detected by the manual feed sensor 210, the paper is driven and conveyed by the grid roller 206 and the pinch roller 207, and is drawn onto the platen 201 (step S804). When the media sensor 39 detects that the paper 202 is set on the platen 201, the suction roller 204 is rotated (step S805), and the paper is sucked onto the platen and the grid roller 206 is pulled out for a specified length. Is stopped (step S806). Here, the cutter 301 is moved along the cutter groove 209 to cut the paper 202 into a predetermined length. After cutting, the grid roller 206 is driven again, and the sheet is cut when the sheet is pulled out by a predetermined length (step S808), and this is repeated until all the sheets are fed. If the end of the paper is detected by the manual feed sensor 210 during paper feeding (step S808), no further cutting is possible, so the repetition is stopped, the host computer 24 is notified that the cutting mode is complete (step S809), and the processing is terminated.

  FIG. 4 is an image of an unnecessary printed material cut by the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  For example, if “A4 width” is designated as the cut length, sheets such as unnecessary printed matter are cut into strips as shown in FIG. In the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4, it is possible to process with a general shredder in the office.

  The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. In the example, the cut mode operation command and the cut length designation are received from the host computer, but this may be designated by the user after operating the control panel inside the apparatus. The unit of the cut length may be a standard size such as A4 width or A3 width, or may be millimeter. Further, in the present invention, this cut length designation is the maximum “A3 width”. This is because the shredder used in general offices has a wide sheet width corresponding to A4, and even if it is large, it can be covered in most offices.

Although the cutter driving speed is not particularly described in the first embodiment, it is desirable that the cutter driving speed is fast because the time required for cutting affects the printing throughput of the printer. However, when cutting is performed, paper dust is scattered from the cutting section of the paper and adheres to the platen and the head, thereby deteriorating the print quality and, in the long term, adversely affects the life of the apparatus. Therefore, in the present invention, the cut time can be increased because the print throughput is not affected in the cut mode. Therefore, by reducing the cutter driving speed compared to the time of printing, the amount of paper dust generated is suppressed and the paper dust is scattered. Reduce the distance range. That is, if the cutter driving speed during printing is V1, and the cutter driving speed in the cut mode is V2, V2 <V1.
It is characterized by controlling to become.

1 is a block diagram of an ink jet recording apparatus according to an embodiment. 2 is a side sectional view of the inkjet recording apparatus 100. FIG. It is a flowchart of the cut mode of the inkjet recording device which concerns on this Embodiment. It is the image of the unnecessary printed matter cut by the inkjet recording device which concerns on this Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

20 Control unit 24 Host computer 25 Thermistor (temperature detection element)
31 Head Driver 32 Head 35 Paper Conveyance Motor 100 Inkjet Recording Device 209 Cutter Groove 301 Cutter

Claims (3)

  An image recording apparatus comprising: a means for receiving a cut mode operation command; a means for receiving a cut length designation; a paper transport means for pulling out and cutting a paper to a designated cut length; and a cutting means.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a cutter driving speed during the cut mode operation is lower than a cutter driving speed during normal printing.   The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cut length can be specified to be smaller than the A3 width.

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