US-12623471-B2 - Medium issuing device, medium issuing system and medium issuing method

US12623471B2US 12623471 B2US12623471 B2US 12623471B2US-12623471-B2

Abstract

A medium issuing device includes a medium conveyance part, a print head, a sensor disposed on an upstream side of a conveyance passage with respect to the print head, a head drive part which moves the print head between a standby position and a printing position, a ribbon feeding part, and a control part. The control part controls so that, when detected that the sensor is turned on by a medium, the medium is conveyed at a first speed by the medium conveyance part, and the print head is started to move to the printing position by the head drive part and, in a case that a high speed mode is set, after the print head is contacted with the medium, the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part are synchronously driven so that printing to the medium is performed at the second speed higher than the first speed.

Inventors

Tomohiro Hoshi

Assignees

NIDEC INSTRUMENTS CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20231019
Priority Date: 20221020

Claims (5)

1 . A medium issuing device for printing and issuing a medium, the medium issuing device comprising: a conveyance passage where the medium is conveyed; a medium conveyance part which conveys the medium in the conveyance passage; a print head which brings an ink ribbon into contact with the medium conveyed in the conveyance passage by the medium conveyance part and prints on the medium; a sensor which is disposed on an upstream side of the conveyance passage with respect to the print head; a head drive part which moves the print head between a standby position and a printing position; a ribbon feeding part which feeds out the ink ribbon; and a control part which controls so that: when detected that the sensor is turned on, the medium is conveyed at a first speed by the medium conveyance part, and the print head is started to move to the printing position by the head drive part; and in a case that a high speed mode which prints at a second speed higher than the first speed is set, after the print head is contacted with the medium, the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part are synchronously driven so that printing to the medium is performed at the second speed, wherein when the control part receives an instruction that the medium is taken out from a medium storage part in which the medium is stored, the control part starts to acquire printing data to be printed by the print head from a host apparatus, in a case that a normal mode in which printing is performed at the first speed is set, when the print head is contacted with the medium, the control part stops the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part until acquisition of the printing data is completed, and in a case that the high speed mode is set, when the print head is contacted with the medium, the control part controls so as not to stop the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part even in a middle of acquisition of the printing data.
2 . The medium issuing device according to claim 1 , wherein the control part calculates an expected acquisition time of the printing data based on an attribute of the printing data and a communication speed with the host apparatus, and in a case that a moving time until the medium which is conveyed is contacted with the print head is shorter than the expected acquisition time, when the print head is contacted with the medium, the control part controls so as not to stop the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part.
3 . A medium issuing system comprising: a medium issuing device for printing and issuing a medium; and a host apparatus which transmits printing data for the medium issuing device; wherein the host apparatus comprises: a printing data creation part which creates the printing data; a mode setting part which sets a normal mode in which printing is performed at a first speed and a high speed mode in which printing is performed at a second speed higher than the first speed; and a transmission part which transmits the printing data to the medium issuing device; the medium issuing device comprises: a conveyance passage where the medium is conveyed; a medium conveyance part which conveys the medium in the conveyance passage; a print head which brings an ink ribbon into contact with the medium conveyed in the conveyance passage by the medium conveyance part and prints on the medium; a sensor which is disposed on an upstream side of the conveyance passage with respect to the print head; a head drive part which moves the print head between a standby position and a printing position; a ribbon feeding part which feeds out the ink ribbon; and a control part which controls so that: when detected that the sensor is turned on, the medium is conveyed at the first speed by the medium conveyance part, and the print head is started to move to the printing position by the head drive part; and in a case that the high speed mode is set, after the print head is contacted with the medium, the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part are synchronously driven so that printing to the medium is performed at the second speed.
4 . The medium issuing system according to claim 3 , wherein in a case that the printing data is data including black-and-white data whose storage capacity is smaller than a specific capacity, the mode setting part sets the high speed mode.
5 . A medium issuing method which is executed by a medium issuing device for printing and issuing a medium, wherein the medium issuing device comprises: a conveyance passage where the medium is conveyed; a medium conveyance part which conveys the medium in the conveyance passage; a print head which brings an ink ribbon into contact with the medium conveyed in the conveyance passage by the medium conveyance part and prints on the medium; a sensor which is disposed on an upstream side of the conveyance passage with respect to the print head; a head drive part which moves the print head between a standby position and a printing position; a ribbon feeding part which feeds out the ink ribbon; and a control part; and wherein the control part controls so that: when detected that the sensor is turned on, the medium is conveyed at a first speed by the medium conveyance part, and the print head is started to move to the printing position by the head drive part; and in a case that a high speed mode is set, after the print head is contacted with the medium, the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part are synchronously driven so that printing to the medium is performed at a second speed.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Application No. 2022-168225 filed Oct. 20, 2022, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD At least an embodiment of the present invention may relate to a medium issuing device, a medium issuing system and a medium issuing method for especially issuing a medium such as a card. BACKGROUND Conventionally, a card issuing system has been existed which issues a card-shaped recording medium (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “card”). Such a card issuing system is structured so that a medium issuing device which issues a card is connected with a host apparatus such as an ATM (Automated Teller Machine). Such a medium issuing device often includes a hopper unit in which cards before issue are laminated and accommodated, a printer which prints on a card, and the like. In addition, in a printer for a card and the like, a system is often used in which an ink ribbon is heated by a print head in a thermal system to transfer to a card. In such a medium issuing device, it is required that printing and issuing of a card are performed at a high speed, in other words, a time required for printing and issuing of a card is reduced. In the conventional thermal transfer printing described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 2-273268 (Patent Literature 1), a control circuit for adjusting a paper feeding speed based on a printing mode of a printer and a means capable of changing the paper feeding speed by a drive circuit for a paper feed motor are provided. In the technique described in Patent Literature 1, two paper feeding modes are provided, in other words, a paper feeding mode for a recording paper whose load is light, for example, a dedicated paper sheet such as thermosensitive paper or transfer paper, and a paper feeding mode for a thick paper sheet whose load is large due to large thickness. In an initial state, a high-speed paper feeding mode is set so as to cope with a thin paper such as a printer dedicated paper sheet and, in a case that a postcard mode, a cut-sheet feeder mode or the like is set, a low-speed paper feeding mode is set. In the technique described in Patent Literature 1, a “low-speed feeding mode” is required for a card having a certain thickness and thus, a printing speed of a medium such as a card is unable to increase in a medium issuing device. SUMMARY In view of the problem described above, at least an embodiment of the present invention may advantageously provide a medium issuing device which is capable of reducing a printing time to a card. According to at least an embodiment of the present invention, there may be provided a medium issuing device for printing and issuing a medium which includes a conveyance passage where the medium is conveyed, a medium conveyance part which conveys the medium in the conveyance passage, a print head which brings an ink ribbon into contact with the medium conveyed in the conveyance passage by the medium conveyance part and prints on the medium, a sensor which is disposed on an upstream side of the conveyance passage with respect to the print head, a head drive part which moves the print head between a standby position and a printing position, a ribbon feeding part which feeds out the ink ribbon, and a control part. The control part controls so that, when detected that the sensor is turned on, the medium is conveyed at a first speed by the medium conveyance part, and the print head is started to move to the printing position by the head drive part and, in a case that a high speed mode which prints at a second speed higher than the first speed is set, after the print head is contacted with the medium, the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part are synchronously driven so that printing to the medium is performed at the second speed. According to this configuration, a medium is conveyed at the first speed and thus, the medium and the print head can be surely aligned and, after aligned, the conveyance speed is set to the second speed and thereby, a printing time can be reduced. In the medium issuing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, when the control part receives an instruction that the medium is taken out from a medium storage part in which the medium is stored, the control part starts to acquire printing data to be printed by the print head from a host apparatus. According to this configuration, before a medium is conveyed to a printing start position, most printing image data can be received. In the medium issuing device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, in a case that a normal mode in which printing is performed at the first speed is set, when the print head is contacted with the medium, the control part stops the medium conveyance part and the ribbon feeding part until acquisition of the printing data is completed and, in a case that the high speed