阅读说明：本技术 印刷装置 (Printing device ) 是由 刑部文裕 于 2019-11-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：手持打印机具备印刷头和外壳,使外壳在副印刷方向上移动来将印刷对象印刷在被印刷介质。印刷头具有在第一方向行状排列而设的印字元件。外壳在底面具有印刷头。在底面具有：基准底面；形成在相对于被印刷介质更远离基准底面的位置的凹陷底面；和凸部。凹陷底面形成在：在外壳在第二方向上移动时,通过被印刷介质中的由印刷头印刷了印刷对象的区域之上的区域。(The hand-held printer includes a print head and a housing, and prints an object to be printed on a print medium by moving the housing in a sub-printing direction. The print head has printing elements arranged in a line in a first direction. The housing has a print head on a bottom surface. The bottom surface has: a reference bottom surface; a recessed bottom surface formed at a position farther from the reference bottom surface with respect to the to-be-printed medium; and a convex portion. The concave bottom surface is formed on: when the housing is moved in the second direction, the printing medium passes through an area above an area of the printing medium on which the printing object is printed by the printing head.)

1. A printing apparatus capable of printing on a medium to be printed by ejecting ink from a printing head while relatively moving the printing apparatus and the medium to be printed in a first direction,

the pair of convex portions are formed in a line shape so as to be parallel to each other in the direction along the first direction, and the print head is provided on a surface facing the print medium when printing is performed on the print medium so as to be located at a position shifted from a region between the convex portions along the first direction.

2. Printing device according to claim 1,

the pair of convex portions are respectively arranged on the front side and the rear side of the relative movement.

3. Printing device according to claim 1,

the pair of convex portions are respectively composed of a pair of sub convex portions which are parallel to each other and are formed in a row shape in the direction along the first direction.

4. Printing device according to claim 1,

further provided with: a guide roller that restricts relative movement with the to-be-printed medium in the first direction,

the guide roller protrudes from the surface by a larger amount than the pair of protrusions.

5. A printing device according to any of claims 1 to 3,

further provided with: a pair of guide rollers that restrict relative movement with the to-be-printed medium in the first direction,

the pair of guide rollers have a greater amount of protrusion from the surface than the pair of protrusions.

6. Printing device according to claim 5,

the pair of guide rollers is provided such that the pair of convex portions are positioned between the guide rollers in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction.

7. Printing device according to claim 1,

and a region that is recessed more than a region where the pair of convex portions are provided, on a surface facing the print medium, in a region between the pair of convex portions along the first direction.

8. Printing device according to claim 7,

the length of the recessed region in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction is formed to be longer than the length of the recessed region in the second direction in the print head.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

Background

A manual printing type printing apparatus is known that prints a print target such as a character, a symbol, a logo, or a pattern on a print medium by manually moving a housing by gripping the housing.

Patent document 1 discloses a manual printing type printing apparatus including: a reference indicator provided in the vicinity of the bottom surface of the housing; and a display for displaying the relative positional relationship between the reference indicator and the printed image.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: U.S. patent application publication No. 2007/0223982 specification

Disclosure of Invention

A printing apparatus according to 1 aspect of the present invention includes: a print head having printing elements arranged in a row in a first direction; and a housing having a bottom surface and having the print head disposed on the bottom surface side, the housing having, on the bottom surface side: a reference bottom surface having a first gap from a surface on which the print medium is placed; a second bottom surface having a second gap larger than the first gap from a surface on which the print medium is placed; and a projection having a third gap smaller than the first gap from a surface on which the print medium is placed, wherein the second bottom surface is arranged to pass over an area of the print medium when the print head continues printing by moving the housing in a second direction that is a direction intersecting the first direction after the print head performs printing on the area.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a hand-held printer and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the hand-held printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view III-III of fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view IV-IV of fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a V-V sectional view of fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a handheld printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing a printing process executed by the hand-held printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagram for explaining a printing process executed by the hand-held printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating a printing process performed by the handheld printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a sectional view of a handheld printer according to a comparative example.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing a printing object printed by the handheld printer according to the comparative example.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of a handheld printer according to a comparative example.

Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a printing object printed by the handheld printer according to the comparative example.

Fig. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a hand-held printer according to a modification of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a bottom view of the hand-held printer according to the modified example of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view of XVII-XVII of fig. 16.

Detailed Description

A printing apparatus (handheld printer) according to an embodiment for implementing the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The hand-held printer 100 according to the present embodiment includes a housing 101 having a size that can be easily grasped by a user as shown in fig. 1, and is moved by the user in a second direction, which is a sub-printing direction, to print a print target such as a character, a symbol, a logo, an icon, a logo, or a pattern on the print medium M, and by repeating printing in the second direction in the first direction, it is possible to print, for example, a character string, an image, or the like across a plurality of lines. Data indicating a printing target to be printed by the hand-held printer 100 is transmitted from the terminal device 200. The terminal device 200 is configured by, for example, a smartphone or a tablet PC (Personal Computer) having a display 220. The hand-held printer 100 and the terminal device 200 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via a wireless line. Further, the hand-held printer 100 and the terminal device 200 constitute the printing system 1.

The hand-held printer 100 includes: a decision button 120 for receiving an instruction to start printing; and an indicator 130 indicating a position of the print target. The surface on which the determination button 120 is provided is the upper surface of the hand-held printer 100.

The indicator 130 has a shape extending in a direction parallel to a first direction, which is a main printing direction of the print head 150, described later. The indicator 130 indicates to the user a direction in which printing is performed when printing a printing object on the printing medium M. The length of the indicator 130 in the first direction is equal to the length of a print head described later. The indicator 130 has a Light guide plate and an LED (Light Emitting Diode).

As shown in fig. 2, a travel distance detection unit 140, a print head 150, and a guide roller 102 are provided on the bottom surface of the hand-held printer 100. Further, the bottom surface of the hand-held printer 100 includes: a reference bottom surface 103; a recessed bottom surface (second bottom surface) 104 recessed more than the reference bottom surface 103; and a convex portion 105 protruding more than the reference bottom surface 103.

The guide roller 102 is provided at the 4-corner of the bottom surface of the handheld printer 100, and guides the handheld printer 100 to easily move in the second direction by the user's operation. As shown in fig. 3 to 5, the guide roller 102 protrudes from the reference bottom surface 103 by a height h1 and functions as a contact portion with the print medium M.

The reference bottom surface 103 has a planar shape, and suppresses deflection of the print medium M. When the hand-held printer 100 is placed on the flat plate P, the reference bottom surface 103 is disposed at a position separated from the flat plate P by a height h1 by the guide roller 102, and a gap having a width equal to the height h1 is formed between the flat plate P and the reference bottom surface 103. The height h1 is set to a height that suppresses deflection of the print medium M by the reference bottom surface 103 when the hand-held printer 100 is placed on the print medium M. Specifically, the upper limit value of the height h1 is preferably 0.5mm, more preferably 0.4 mm. In this way, the deflection of the print medium M can be suppressed. The lower limit of the height h1 is preferably 0.1mm, more preferably 0.2 mm. In this way, friction between the reference bottom surface 103 and the print medium M can be reduced.

The recessed bottom surface 104 is formed in a region extending in the second direction from the print head 150, and is disposed at a position (a position of a recessed depth h 2) away from the reference bottom surface 103 by h2 as viewed from the print medium M. The length L1 of the recessed bottom surface 104 in the first direction is longer than the length L2 of the print head 150 as shown in fig. 2. The recessed bottom surface 104 is formed in the region from the print head 150 to the end 106 of the housing 101 in the second direction. If the handheld printer 100 is operated in the second direction, the recessed bottom surface 104 is formed in an area above an area printed by the print head 150. When the hand-held printer 100 is placed on the flat plate P, as shown in fig. 3 to 5, a gap having a width equal to the height h1+ the depth h2 can be formed between the flat plate P and the recess bottom surface 104. The gap having the same width as the height h1+ the depth h2 is set to a height that suppresses deflection of the print medium M and prevents the recess bottom surface 104 from being rubbed against the ink printed by the print head 150. The upper limit of the height h1+ depth h2 is preferably 1.0mm, more preferably 0.9 mm. In this way, the deflection of the print medium M can be suppressed. The lower limit of the depth h2 is preferably 0.6mm, more preferably 0.7 mm. In this way, the recessed bottom surface 104 is not rubbed with ink printed by the print head 150.

The convex portion 105 is formed on the reference bottom surface 103 with the concave bottom surface 104 therebetween, has a shape extending in the second direction, and suppresses deflection of the print medium M. The interval L3 between the convex portions 105 shown in fig. 2 is longer than the length L2 of the print head 150. Thus, the convex portion 105 is in contact with a portion other than the printing region, and ink printed by the print head 150 can be prevented from being wiped. The height h4 of the convex portion 105 from the reference bottom surface 103 is lower than the height h1 of the guide roller 102, and the gap h5 between the flat plate P and the convex portion 105 is smaller than the gap h1 between the flat plate P and the reference bottom surface 103. Thus, the friction between the convex portion 105 and the print medium M can be kept small, and the deflection of the print medium M can be suppressed.

The movement distance detection unit 140 shown in fig. 2 is configured by a light source such as an LED and an optical sensor, and detects the distance the hand-held printer 100 moves in the second direction.

The print head 150 has: a magenta print head 150M for ejecting magenta ink; a yellow print head 150Y that ejects yellow ink; and a cyan print head 150C that ejects cyan ink. In the print heads 150M, 150Y, and 150C, nozzles as printing elements are arranged in a line in the first direction. In addition, the first direction intersects the second direction. The first direction is preferably orthogonal to the second direction. The print head 150 selectively discharges ink from the nozzles by applying power according to an image to be printed. The depth h3 of the printhead 150 from the reference bottom surface 103 is greater than the depth h 2. When the hand-held printer 100 is placed on the flat panel P, the gap between the flat panel P and the print head 150 is the width equal to the height h1+ the depth h 3. The height h1+ depth h3 is preferably 1.5mm to 2.0 mm. Thus, printing can be performed beautifully.

The hand-held printer 100 includes, as shown in fig. 6, the above-described determination button 120, the pointer 130, the movement distance detection unit 140, and the print head 150, as well as a control unit 110 and a communication unit 160 as an electrical configuration.

The control Unit 110 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (read only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The ROM is a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, and stores a program for causing the control unit 110 to implement various functions. The RAM is composed of a volatile memory and is used as a work area for executing programs for causing the control unit 110 to perform various processes. The RAM stores data indicating a printing target transmitted from the terminal device 200, and the like. The control unit 110 functions as a printing target acquisition unit 111 and a print head control unit 112 by executing a program stored in the ROM.

The printing object acquisition unit 111 acquires data indicating the printing object transmitted from the terminal device 200 via the communication unit 160, and stores the data in the RAM.

The print head control unit 112 controls the print head 150 to print the print target acquired by the print target acquisition unit 111 on the print medium M. Specifically, the print head control unit 112 controls the print head 150 so that 1 dot line of the corrected image to be printed is printed every time the handheld printer 100 prints a distance corresponding to 1 dot pitch.

The decision button 120 receives an instruction to start moving in the second direction based on the user operation.

As described above, the movement distance detection unit 140 detects the printing completion distance, which is the distance the print head 150 moves relative to the print medium M, and outputs data indicating the detected printing completion distance to the control unit 110.

As described above, each time the print head 150 moves in the second direction by a distance corresponding to 1 dot pitch under the control of the print head control unit 112, ink is selectively ejected from the nozzles provided in the print head 150 according to print data. The discharged ink adheres to the print medium M, and prints pixels (1 dot line) arranged in a line in the first direction of the print head 150.

The communication unit 160 receives data indicating a printing target from the terminal device 200. The communication unit 160 is configured by a wireless communication module such as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or Bluetooth (registered trademark).

As shown in fig. 7, the terminal device 200 includes a control unit 210, a display 220, an operation unit 230, and a communication unit 240.

The control unit 210 is constituted by a CPU, ROM, RAM, and the like. The ROM is a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, and stores programs for the control unit 210 to realize various functions. The RAM is constituted by a volatile memory and is used as a work area for executing programs for the control section 210 to perform various processes. The RAM stores data indicating a printing target. The control unit 210 functions as a print target acquisition unit 211 and a print target transmission unit 212 by executing programs stored in the ROM.

The printing object acquisition unit 211 acquires data indicating the printing object received by the operation unit 230 or the communication unit 240.

The printing object transmission unit 212 transmits data indicating the printing object to the handheld printer 100 via the communication unit 240.

The Display 220 displays an input image of a printing object and an image necessary for operation, and is formed of an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or the like.

The operation unit 230 receives data indicating a printing target and instructions to start and end a printing process based on user input. The operation unit 230 and the display 220 constitute a touch panel display device.

The communication unit 240 transmits data indicating a printing target to the handheld printer 100. The communication unit 240 is configured by a wireless communication module such as a wireless LAN or Bluetooth (registered trademark), as in the communication unit 160 described above.

Next, a printing process executed by the handheld printer 100 having the above-described configuration will be described.

The handheld printer 100 starts the print processing shown in fig. 8 in response to an instruction to start the processing made by the user. The printing process executed by the hand-held printer 100 is described below using a flowchart.

When data indicating a printing target is transmitted from the terminal device 200 by the user' S operation, the printing target acquisition unit 111 of the handheld printer 100 acquires the data indicating the printing target via the communication unit 160 and stores the data in the RAM (step S101). Next, the print head control unit 112 determines whether or not the decision button 120 is pressed (step S102). The print head control unit 112 repeats step S102 until the decision button is pressed (no in step S102). When the decision button is pressed (yes in step S102), the print head control unit 112 prints the printing object on the print medium M according to the movement distance (step S103). In detail, the print head control section 112 prints 1 dot line of the image to be printed every time it moves by a distance corresponding to 1 dot pitch. Next, the print head control unit 112 determines whether or not to end printing of the printing object (step S104). If it is determined that printing of the printing object is not finished (no in step S104), step S103 to step S104 are repeated. If it is determined that printing of the printing object is completed (yes in step S104), the printing process is terminated.

Next, the handheld printer 100 according to the present embodiment executes a printing process, and the description will be given with reference to fig. 9 and 10 based on a specific example of printing on the print target medium M.

When the user places the hand-held printer 100 on the print medium M, as shown in fig. 9 and 10, the reference bottom surface 103 and the convex portion 105 suppress the deflection of the print medium M. When the user presses the decision button (yes in step S102; fig. 8) and moves the hand-held printer 100 in the second direction, the hand-held printer 100 is guided by the guide roller 102 and moves in the second direction. The guide roller 102 can be moved in a state where the reference bottom surface 103 is lifted from the printing medium M by the protrusion height h1 of the reference bottom surface 103. At this time, when the print medium M is deflected, the convex portion 105 comes into contact with the print medium M and is deflected and pressed. When the hand-held printer 100 moves, the print head control unit 112 prints the printing object on the printing medium M according to the movement distance (step S103; fig. 8). At this time, the recessed bottom surface 104 passes through the region R printed by the print head control section 112. The recessed bottom surface 104 is recessed more than the reference bottom surface 103, and therefore ink printed by the print head control unit 112 is not wiped. In addition, the recessed bottom surface 104 can suppress deflection when the print medium M is greatly deflected.

As described above, according to the handheld printer 100 of the present embodiment, the deflection of the print medium M can be suppressed by the reference bottom surface 103, the convex portion 105, and the concave bottom surface 104. Further, the recessed bottom surface 104 is recessed more than the reference bottom surface 103, and therefore ink printed by the print head control unit 112 is not wiped. This allows the hand-held printer 100 to print a print target on the print medium M without degrading the print quality. In addition, by having the guide roller 102, guidance can be performed so that the hand-held printer 100 is easily moved in the second direction by the operation of the user. Thereby, the user can move the handheld printer 100 straight in the second direction. Further, the guide roller 102 protrudes from the reference bottom surface 103, so that friction between the reference bottom surface 103 and the print medium M can be reduced.

In contrast, when the height h6 at which the guide roller 102 protrudes from the reference bottom surface 103 'is large as in the hand-held printer 100' shown in fig. 11, the print medium M is deflected when operated. When printing is performed in a state where the printing medium M is bent, as shown in fig. 12, the dot line ML printed by the magenta print head 150M ', the dot line YL printed by the yellow print head 150Y ', and the dot line CL printed by the cyan print head 150C ' are printed in a staggered manner, and the printing quality is degraded. In addition, if there is no recessed bottom surface 104 as in the hand-held printer 100 ″ shown in fig. 13, the reference bottom surface 103 ″ and the printing medium M contact the region R' printed by the print head, and the reference bottom surface 103 ″ wipes the ink printed by the print head. In this case, as shown in fig. 14, the print quality is degraded due to the scratch X formed by the reference bottom surface 103 ″.

(modification example)

Although the above-described embodiment has been described with the handheld printer 100 including the guide roller 102, the guide roller 102 may be omitted as in the handheld printer 100 shown in fig. 15. In this case, the reference bottom surface 103 and the convex portion 105 may be formed of a bottom friction material processed with a fluororesin or the like. Thus, the target print medium M is pressed by the reference bottom surface 103, and the target print medium M can be suppressed from being warped.

In the above-described embodiment, the handheld printer 100 that performs printing by operating in the second direction has been described. The hand-held printer 100 may also be operated in the reverse direction to the second direction to print. In this case, as shown in fig. 16 and 17, the recessed bottom surface 104 is formed in a region in the second direction and a region in the opposite direction from the second direction from the print head 150. In either case, the depression bottom surface 104 suppresses the deflection of the medium M to be printed and does not rub the ink printed by the print head control unit 112. The hand-held printer 100 may include: a 1 st indicator 130A indicating a 1 st second direction; and a 2 nd indicator 130B indicating a direction opposite to the second direction. In this way, the user can be made aware of the operation direction.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the print head 150 has the magenta print head 150M, the cyan print head 150C, and the yellow print head 150Y is described. The print head 150 may discharge 1 or 2 colors of ink or 4 or more colors of ink as long as it can print a printing object. For example, the print head 150 may be a black print head that ejects black ink. Further, although the print head 150 is described as an example of an inkjet type in which nozzles are arranged in a line, the print head 150 may be of another type as long as it can print a printing object.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments, and the present invention includes the inventions described in the claims and the equivalent ranges thereof.