Printer device ink ribbon saving determination
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorSeiji Tsuzuki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to one embodiment, a thermal heat transfer printer (printer device) includes a printing data look-ahead unit configured to look ahead a data printing position if printing is performed; a head position control unit configured to cause a thermal head, an ink ribbon, and printing paper to be in a contact state or a non-contact state based on a look-ahead result of the printing data look-ahead unit; an ink ribbon saved amount calculation unit configured to calculate a saved amount of the ink ribbon based on a conveyed amount of the printing paper in the non-contact state; and an ink ribbon saved amount display unit configured to display the saved amount calculated by the ink ribbon saved amount calculation unit.
Claims20
A printer device, comprising:
- a printing data look-ahead component configured to look ahead a data printing position if printing is performed;
- a head position controller configured to cause a thermal head, an ink ribbon, and printing paper to be in a contact state or a non-contact state based on a look-ahead result of the printing data look-ahead component;
- an ink ribbon saved amount calculation component configured to calculate a saved amount of the ink ribbon based on a conveyed amount of the printing paper in the non-contact state and a cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced;
- and
- an ink ribbon saved amount display configured to display the saved amount calculated by the ink ribbon saved amount calculation component and the cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced.
A print method, comprising:
- looking ahead at a data printing position if printing is performed;
- causing a thermal head, an ink ribbon, and printing paper to be in a contact state or a non-contact state based on a look-ahead result;
- calculating a saved amount of the ink ribbon based on a conveyed amount of the printing paper in the non-contact state and a cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced;
- and
- displaying the saved amount calculated and the cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced.
A thermal printer device, comprising:
- a printing data look-ahead component configured to look ahead a data printing position if thermal printing is performed;
- a thermal head position controller configured to cause a thermal head, an ink ribbon, and printing paper to be in a contact state or a non-contact state based on a look-ahead result of the printing data look-ahead component;
- an ink ribbon saved amount calculation component configured to calculate a saved amount of the ink ribbon based on a conveyed amount of the printing paper in the non-contact state and cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced;
- and
- an ink ribbon saved amount display configured to display the saved amount calculated by the ink ribbon saved amount calculation component and the cumulative value of the saved amount of the ink ribbon since the ink ribbon was last replaced.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.