Thermal printer, control method of a thermal printer, and printing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10618312-B2
Application number	US-201816185992-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2018
Priority date	Nov 10, 2017
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

A thermal printer has a thermal head with multiple heat elements for printing on roll paper; a measurer that measures heat element resistance; printer memory storing a resistance evaluation table relating the resistance of the heat elements to heat element defect levels defined based on a specific range of reflectivity in the symbol image; and an evaluator that references the resistance evaluation table stored in printer memory, acquires a defect level based on the resistance measured by the measurer, and evaluates the defect state of the thermal head based on the defect level of a consecutively adjacent count of heat elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A thermal printer comprising:
a thermal head configured with multiple heat elements to print a symbol image on a print medium;
a measurer configured to measure heat element resistance;
memory configured to store relational information relating heat element resistance to defect level of a heat element defined based on a specific range of reflectivity in the symbol image printed on the print medium; and
a processor configured to reference the relational information stored in the memory, acquire the defect level based on the resistance measured by the measurer, and evaluate a defect state of the thermal head based on the defect level of a specific adjacent number of heat elements,
wherein the specific adjacent number of heat elements in the relational information is determined based on a density of the heat elements in the thermal head, and a density of the symbol image.

2. The thermal printer described in claim 1 , wherein:
the relational information includes, as the defect level, a first defect level corresponding to a first resistance, and a second resistance that is greater than the first resistance; and
the processor, when the resistance measured by the measurer is greater than or equal to the first resistance and less than the second resistance, references the relational information, acquires the first defect level, and determines the defect state of the thermal head is a state in which a defect may occur, and
when the resistance measured by the measurer is greater than or equal to the second resistance, references the relational information, acquires the second defect level, and determines the defect state of the thermal head is a state in which a defect has occurred.

3. The thermal printer described in claim 1 , wherein:
the processor evaluates the defect state of the thermal head based on relational information in which a range of the defect level differs according to the specific adjacent number.

4. The thermal printer described in claim 1 , wherein:
the memory stores distance information indicating the conveyance distance of the print medium at which the defect level changes; and
the processor acquires the print medium conveyance distance, references the distance information, acquires the defect level based on the conveyance distance of the print medium, and evaluates the defect state of the thermal head based on the acquired defect level.

5. A control method of a thermal printer having a thermal head configured with multiple heat elements to print a symbol image on a print medium, and a measurer configured to measure heat element resistance, the control method comprising:
storing relational information relating heat element resistance to defect level of a heat element defined based on a specific range of reflectivity in the symbol image printed on the print medium; and
referencing the stored relational information, acquiring the defect level based on the resistance measured by the measurer, and evaluating a defect state of the thermal head based on the defect level of a specific adjacent number of heat elements,
wherein the specific adjacent number of heat elements is determined based on a density of the heat elements in the thermal head, and a density of the symbol image.

6. The thermal printer control method described in claim 5 , wherein:
the relational information includes, as the defect level, a first defect level corresponding to a first resistance, and a second resistance that is greater than the first resistance; and
when the resistance measured by the measurer is greater than or equal to the first resistance and less than the second resistance, referencing the relational information, acquiring the first defect level, and determining the defect state of the thermal head is a state in which a defect may occur, and
when the resistance measured by the measurer is greater than or equal to the second resistance, referencing the relational information, acquiring the second defect level, and determining the defect state of the thermal head is a state in which a defect has occurred.

7. The thermal printer control method described in claim 5 , further comprising:
evaluating the defect state of the thermal head based on relational information in which a range of the defect level differs according to the specific adjacent number.

8. The thermal printer control method described in claim 5 , further comprising:
acquiring a conveyance distance of the print medium;
storing distance information indicating the conveyance distance of the print medium at which the defect level changes; and
referencing the distance information, acquiring the defect level based on the acquired print medium conveyance distance, and evaluating the defect state of the thermal head based on the acquired defect level.

9. A printing system comprising:
a thermal printer; and
an information processing device capable of communicating with the thermal printer;
the thermal printer including a thermal head having multiple heat elements to print a symbol image on a print medium;
a measurer configured to measure heat element resistance;
a first communicator configured to communicate with the information processing device; and
a first processor configured to cause the first communicator to send the resistance measured by the measurer to the information processing device; and

the information processing device including a second communicator configured to communicate with the thermal printer;
memory configured to store relational information relating heat element resistance to defect level of a heat element defined based on a specific range of reflectivity in the symbol image printed on the print medium; and
a second processor configured to reference the relational information stored in the memory, acquire the defect level based on the resistance received by the second communicator, and evaluate a defect state of the thermal head based on the defect level of a specific adjacent number of heat elements.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Nishimura Hideki
• Hagiwara Toshihiro
• Nishimoto Yuki

Classifications

• B41J2/3553 Primary

  Heater resistance determination · CPC title

• B41J2/355

  Control circuits for heating-element selection · CPC title