US 7,607,468 B2Granted

Tape printer

AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorsTsuyoshi Yamamoto, Yusuke Ota, Satoru Moriyama, Jun Jiang, Hirotsugu Unotoro

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Abstract

In the case the die cut label sheet is mounted, by detection of threshold voltage of output signal of the photo sensor, each label provisionally adhered to a front surface of the die cut label sheet is fed to a print start position. In the case the unfixed-length roll sheet is mounted, if the feeding speed is less than 40 mm/sec, by detection of threshold voltage of output signal of the photo sensor, the feeding state of unfixed-length roll sheet is judged, or if the feeding speed is not less than 40 mm/sec, on the basis of voltage change for the predetermined potential difference portion of output signal of the photo sensor, the feeding state of unfixed-length roll sheet is judged.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A tape printer comprising:

a feeding device for pulling out and feeding a long roll sheet wound in a rolled state so that a back surface is outside, the roll sheet having encoder marks formed at predetermined pitch on the back surface, and comprising one of:
a die cut label sheet having plural labels provisionally adhered to a front surface of a long release sheet arranged along the longitudinal direction of the release sheet, and
an unfixed-length roll sheet formed by winding a long continuous printing medium;
a printing device for printing on the roll sheet being fed by the feeding device;
a mark detection sensor for detecting the encoder marks and issuing one of a plurality of output voltages unique to the detected encoder marks;
sheet discrimination sensors for detecting the kind of the roll sheet;
and
a control circuit for controlling the feeding device on the basis of the one output voltage issued from the mark detection sensor, the control circuit including:
an output voltage storage section storing the plurality of output voltages of the mark detection sensor corresponding to each combination of length of plural kinds of encoder marks in a feeding direction and a feeding speed of plural kinds of roll sheets;
and
a controller programmed to:
determine the kind of the roll sheet detected by the sheet discrimination sensors;
feed the label of the die cut label sheet to a print start position on the basis of the output voltage of the mark detection sensor in the case where the roll sheet is the die cut label sheet;
and
judge a feeding state of the unfixed-length roll sheet based on the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor in the case where the roll sheet is the unfixed-length roll sheet.

12 more elements

A tape printer comprising:

a feeding device for pulling out and feeding a long roll sheet wound in a rolled state so that a back surface is outside, the roll sheet having encoder marks formed at predetermined pitch on the back surface, and comprising one of
a die cut label sheet having plural labels provisionally adhered to a front surface of a long release sheet arranged along the longitudinal direction of the release sheet;
and
an unfixed-length roll sheet formed by winding a long continuous printing medium;
a printing device for printing on the roll sheet being fed by the feeding device;
a mark detection sensor for detecting the encoder marks and issuing one of a plurality of output voltages unique to the detected encoder mark;
sheet discrimination sensors for detecting the kind of the roll sheet;
and
a control circuit for controlling the feeding device on the basis of the one output voltage issued from the mark detection sensor, the control circuit including:
an output voltage storage section storing the plurality of output voltages of the mark detection sensor corresponding to each combination of length of plural kinds of encoder marks in the feeding direction and a feeding speed of plural kinds of roll sheets,
a feeding speed storage section preliminarily storing a predetermined feeding speed corresponding to each kind of roll sheet;
a reference speed storage section storing a first speed as a reference feeding speed;
and
a controller programmed to:
determine the kind of the roll sheet detected by the sheet discrimination sensors;
feed the label of the die cut label sheet to a print start position by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold in the case where the roll sheet is the die cut label sheet;
determine whether the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed or not in the case where the roll sheet is the unfixed-length roll sheet;
check a first feeding state of the unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold if the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed;
and
check a second feeding state of unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor is changed by a predetermined voltage if the predetermined feeding speed is not less than the first speed.

17 more elements

A tape printer comprising:

a feeding device for pulling out and feeding a long roll sheet wound in a rolled state so that a back surface is outside, the roll sheet having encoder marks formed at predetermined pitch on the back surface, and comprising one of:
a die cut label sheet having plural labels provisionally adhered to a front surface of a long release sheet arranged along the longitudinal direction of the release sheet;
and
an unfixed-length roll sheet formed by winding a long continuous printing medium;
a printing device for printing on the roll sheet being fed by the feeding device;
a mark detection sensor for detecting the encoder marks and issuing one of a plurality of output voltages unique to the detected encoder mark;
sheet discrimination sensors for detecting the kind of the roll sheet;
and
a control circuit for controlling the feeding device on the basis of the one output voltage issued from the mark detection sensor, the control circuit including:
an output voltage storage section storing the plurality of output voltages of the mark detection sensor corresponding to each combination of length of plural kinds of encoder marks in the feeding direction and a feeding speed of plural kinds of roll sheets;
a feeding speed storage section preliminarily storing a predetermined feeding speed corresponding to each kind of roll sheet,
a reference speed storage section storing a first speed as a reference feeding speed;
and
a controller programmed to:
determine the kind of the roll sheet detected by the sheet discrimination sensors;
feed the label of the die cut label sheet to a print start position by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold in the case where the roll sheet is the die cut label sheet;
determine whether the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed or not in the case where the roll sheet is the unfixed-length roll sheet;
check a first feeding state of the unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold if the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed;
and
check a second feeding state of unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor is changed by a predetermined voltage if the predetermined feeding speed is not less than the first speed;
and
a width of encoder marks in the feeding direction being to be half of the predetermined pitch in the case where the roll sheet is the unfixed-length roll sheet.

19 more elements

A tape printer comprising:

a feeding device for pulling out and feeding a long roll sheet wound in a rolled state so that a back surface is outside, the roll sheet having encoder marks formed at predetermined pitch on the back surface, and comprising one of:
a die cut label sheet having plural labels provisionally adhered to a front surface of a long release sheet arranged along the longitudinal direction of the release sheet, and
an unfixed-length roll sheet formed by winding a long continuous printing medium;
a printing device for printing on the roll sheet being fed by the feeding device;
a mark detection sensor for detecting the encoder marks and issuing one of a plurality of output voltages unique to the detected encoder mark;
sheet discrimination sensors for detecting the kind of the roll sheet;
and
a control circuit for controlling the feeding device on the basis of the one output voltage issued from the mark detection sensor, the control circuit including:
an output voltage storage section storing the plurality of output voltages of the mark detection sensor corresponding to each combination of length of plural kinds of encoder marks in the a feeding direction and feeding speed of plural kinds of roll sheets;
a feeding speed storage section preliminarily storing a predetermined feeding speed corresponding to each kind of roll sheet;
a reference speed storage section storing a first speed as a reference feeding speed;
and
a controller programmed to:
determine the kind of the roll sheet detected by the sheet discrimination sensors;
feed the label of the die cut label sheet to a print start position by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold in the case where the roll sheet is the die cut label sheet;
determine whether the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed or not in the case where the roll sheet;
check a first feeding state of the unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor becomes the predetermined threshold if the predetermined feeding speed is less than the first speed, and
check a second feeding state of unfixed-length roll sheet by determining that the encoder mark is opposite to the mark detection sensor when the one output voltage of the mark detection sensor is changed by a predetermined voltage portion if the predetermined feeding speed is not less than the first speed;
the encoder marks being provided so as to be opposite to an end edge of the feeding direction side of each label and also opposite to the mark detection sensor in the case where the roll sheet is the die cut label sheet;
and
a width of encoder marks in the feeding direction being set to be half of the predetermined pitch in the case where the roll sheet is the unfixed-length roll sheet.

18 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/038,543Filed 21 Jan 2005
Priority: JP 2004-10705731 Mar 2004
Published: US 2005/0230051 A120 Oct 2005
Granted: 27 Oct 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

B41J 3/4075
For marking on special material: tape printers; Label printers
B41J 11/009
Devices or arrangements of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, for supporting or handling copy material in…:…
B41J 11/46
Controlling printing material conveyance for accurate alignment of the printing material with the printhead; Print registering: by marks or…
Y10T 156/1712
For plural parts or plural areas of single part: indefinite or running length work

Family

US 2005/0230051 A1Pre-grant publication · published 20 Oct 2005
US 7,607,468 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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